The Wild Side
by Sunny.xo
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Cecilia Kane was a good girl. A good student, a good friend, and a good daughter, she followed the rules and never even dreamed of stepping a toe out of line. Until one night spent on the Southside threatens to ruin her seemingly perfect life. But would it really be the worst thing to happen? **better/longer summary inside**
1. The Night Before

**BETTER SUMMARY HERE:**

 **Feeble fifteen-year-old Cecilia Kane was a good girl. She was a good student, a good friend, and a good daughter. She followed the rules and never even dreamed of stepping a single toe out of line…until she spends one memorable night on the Southside, and another, and another, and another. The girl once afraid of the Southsider's finds herself intrigued by them, well one in particular. All is threatened by overbearing, Southside hating parents and a secret identity to maintain, Cecilia Kane is about to be added to the long list of Riverdale sinners.**

 **A/N FEEL FREE TO READ, ITS COOL IF YOU DONT**

 **Hey.**

 **So, this is the first story I'm posting and honestly don't know if I'll continue it or not. Guess we'll see what you lovely readers have to say, I was really just writing this for fun in word because it helps pass the time and gives me something to do when I'm bored (which is a common occurrence). Originally I was going to write out the whole first season without posting anything but I then I wondered if other people would even like it or if it even made sense because I tend to ramble.**

 **And here we are, I thought I'd post the first chapter or two (because it's all I have at the moment) or like post every week or bi-weekly and see what people think. I am genuinely curious if anyone will like the story line I've thought up in my head, I love fanfiction's so much but I always find them much more interesting when the OC has their own story line and isn't just thrust into the mix. So this story is my attempt at doing exactly that although, I am still trying to figure out unique story lines for my character.**

 **Any suggestions or critiques or constructive critisim is welcome, just PM me and I will take it into consideration if you're nice. If you're not I will tell you to where to go.**

 **Anyway though, on with the story! And sorry for this super long Author's note, good on you for reading the whole thing. You're my favorite :D 3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Riverdale or any of it's characters and their story lines. I only own my OC's The Kane Family, Cecilia "Cece" Kane, Holly Andrews and any other original character's that should pop up.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Night Before**

Cecilia Kane lay out on her plush queen size reading to pass the time, waiting for the sun to go down and passing the time by waiting for the appropriate hour to finally go to bed. The next day being the first day of her freshman year, Cecilia was feeling a whirl of emotions deep in her stomach; excitement, nerves and anxiety were battling it out with one another. What was she going to wear? Was she going to be on time for homeroom? Was she going to be able to find all of her classes without issue?

Cecilia was trying to read her vintage copy of _'Casino Royale'_ but couldn't quite focus on the actual words as she was debating on whether to call her best friend, Holly Andrews, over to help her pick a back to school outfit. Cecilia hated putting outfits together as she was a jeans and tee shirt kind of girl but with parents like hers that wasn't an option, they had been dressing her the way they deemed appropriate her entire life. Their standard of appropriate were usually long-sleeved blouses paired with a nice pair of pants or a skirt that stopped below her knees and no shorter.

Duncan Kane, Cecilia's father, was what was to be considered high up in the societal hierarchy of Riverdale – being the public and political liaison of the mayor. Duncan Kane was Sierra McCoy's right hand in all the going on's in their small town, which shone a huge spotlight on not only the man in question but his family as well. His wife, Cecilia's mother, Maryanne was a highly acclaimed party planner and organized all of the towns best fundraisers, gatherings and parties. It also meant she travelled around the country planning her famous parties quite often and on these ventures, she almost always took Duncan with her, leaving their teenage daughter at home all on her own.

Whereas most parents would be worried about leaving their fifteen-year-old daughter at home for extended periods of time with no supervision, the Kane's never worried. They had instilled just the right amount of fear in their daughter to ensure she wouldn't even dream of stepping out of line, a line they had drawn sharp and with finality. Cecilia didn't like saying she was afraid of her parents and she never did, but deep down she knew she was in fact terrified of her parents. However, she was the tiniest bit more afraid of disappointing them, either way she knew the consequences were the same.

As she lay absentmindedly on her bed, letting her thoughts wander, she faintly heard her phone buzz from her bedside table. Cecilia immediately thrust her bookmark back into her novel and sprung off her bed, rushing to the tiny portable computer to see multiple text messages pop up on the screen.

 ** _Hauls Cough Drops TM:_**

 ** _Meet me Pop's?_**

 ** _….._**

 ** _Pleeeeeaaaaaasee?_**

 ** _I thought id play tag along w Arch and Betty_**

 ** _He said hed get me food, he has yet 2 do so_**

 ** _I NEED SUSTINANCE!_**

Cecilia snorted at the text messages left by her best friend while she quickly replied, letting the auburn-haired beauty know she was on her way to the Chock' lit Shoppe. Her parents were in LA planning some popstar's 21st or something like that so Cecilia was left all by her lonesome, not to say she minded really. With her parents not home, she really could find room to breath and be herself; she could do what she wanted, wear what she wanted, she was free! But she also had to be careful, she wouldn't want to taint her persona of the _perfect daughter_ and the Kane name by being seen anywhere considered unpalatable to her prejudiced parents. So, where she had some freedoms, Cecilia still was very much restricted even given her parents were hundreds – if not thousands – of miles away from her. They still were very present.

Slipping on white laced polka dot blouse, a pair of her riskier black jeans with rips decorating the legs (Holly made her buy them) and her beat up converse discarded in the back of her closet; Cecilia begun her journey to Pop's. She grabbed her black canvas backpack and a jean jacket – just in case – as she made her way out the door and to the garage to grab her bicycle, making sure to lock the front door behind her. Cecilia hopped on her silver bike and cruised down her street, she took her time and admired her surroundings as she flew past. She was amazed at how different her happy boring little neck of the woods looked in the dark, it was mysterious and intriguing. It also creeped her out but more than anything it made her curious.

Curious and suspicious, suspicious of all the cookie cutter houses lined up in nice neat rows, one after the other. Everyone had secrets, this was something Cecilia knew fully well as she lived in Riverdale, and she wondered what secrets were held within the walls of the cookie cutter houses she passed on her way to Pop's. The Kane house's secret? Had to have been Cecilia's disgraced older brother, Raymond.

Raymond Kane was the perfect son, the perfect brother, the perfect friend, the perfect everything. Until he wasn't. Raymond was their parent's favourite child – there was no question about it – he was the captain of the football team during his high school years as well as the baseball, hockey, and swim teams. Straight A student, on every committee and club the school had to offer and was still able to keep up with an extremely active social life and their parent's demands of the siblings to attend all the parities and social events they organized and attended. He was a parent's dream child, until he turned 18 and told Duncan and Maryanne – more so Duncan than Maryanne – what he REALLY thought of him. It got violent and the night of Raymond's graduation he was thrown out and told to not come back, he was never seen in Riverdale again after that night.

The thought of her older brother left a swelling feeling of sadness in Cecilia's chest, it had been four years since she had seen or even heard from her beloved brother. She missed him and it was times like the one's too come when she would need him most, he wouldn't be there though. Cecilia often thought about the possibility of him coming back, if not for good then to take her with him when he departed once again. Would she go with him if he asked her? Would he even _want_ her to come with him?

The blonde teenager was ripped from her thoughts when she caught a glimpse of the neon pink and purple light of Pop's sign luminating the night. Cecilia slowed her bicycle down and hopped off it, she decided to lean it up against the side of the building as she didn't want to bother with the lock because who would steal a shitty little bike? She was just about to text Holly to let her know she had arrived but before she could she heard the shop bell chime and the next thing she knew, Cecilia was being engulfed by waves of thick red hair and a tangle of arms.

"THANK GOD! I was about to stab myself in the eye with a fork to make the night fucking interesting, jeez" Holly Andrews exclaimed as she squeezed the life out of her best friend, a best friend she had barely seen all summer thanks to both of their parents. Holly spent a majority of her summer with her lawyer mom in Chicago having the time of her life, shopping, beaches, scenic streets, musicians. All the things Holly loved almost more than the family pet, Vegas (Can you guess who named him?). Cecilia however, didn't have anywhere near close to an exciting summer; her summer was spent at either a town function and/or party or at the many dance classes her mother had signed her up for to get her out of the house. Not the fun, free, express yourself type dance either – ballroom dancing and ballet – not to say they weren't as fun. But as much as Cecilia found the classical art form to be beautiful and lovely to look at, she longed to just dance freely and to be herself.

"Does everything have to be so dramatic with you?" Cecilia questioned her taller friend while sporting a wide grin. Holly feigned offense at her blonde friend before the two begun laughing loudly and made their way into the diner. Pop's was the same as it had always been in it's 50's themed glory that the two fifteen-year old's adored. Cecilia looked around the diner and as per usual it was pretty empty, the quant place only got really busy when an event was being held or on the occasional Friday night. But she couldn't have cared less as she enjoyed the serenity of the diner, it had always been a place she could go to to think things over and reflect.

The best friends walked in the direction of Holly's older brother Archie and his good friend Betty Cooper – whom was in love with the oblivious red-haired Adonis. The two had been talking about their summers over a milkshake until both of their attention was ripped away by the younger girls talking loud and animatedly to each other. Archie's eyes lit up when he was greeted by the sight of Holly and Cecilia, he hadn't seen the youngest Kane all summer and he missed the girl that was practically his second sister.

"Cece! Hey, haven't seen you all summer how've you been?" Archie inquired of the blonde as he smiled and stood from the booth to hug her.

"Arch! Oh god, I missed you guys so much over the summer." Cecilia informed the boy who she considered a brother and protector an even wider grin and bone crushing embrace. "I think I am the _only_ person who can say – and while completely serious and meaning it – that she's so glad the summer is finally over!"

Archie Andrews gave Cecilia Kane a concerned look as the two pulled away from their embrace, Cecilia's home life was not the best and all of the Andrews were fully aware of that fact. They were the only people that knew of her highly dysfunctional family, actually, as the tiny blonde didn't see the point in having anyone else know. Her own family may have been messed up and way past it being fixed, she didn't need to be reminded by the terrible society known as 'high schooler's'. Besides, as far as she was concerned, the Andrews were all the family she needed.

"Everything's alright though, right? Remember you ever need anything or even just a place to stay, you call us. Any of us; dad, me, Holly." Archie reminded Cecilia for what seemed like it had to have been the hundred thousandth time. Cecilia smiled jokingly at the oldest Andrews and nodded as he spoke to her, she had heard this speech from all of the Andrews at least forty times a year since she was ten.

"How could things be anything but alright when Mr. and Mrs. Perfect are out of town?" Archie and Cecilia shared a chuckle at the referral of Mr. and Mrs. Kane as 'Perfect'. Cecilia embraced Archie one more time while letting him know she appreciated his worry before she released him and turned to Betty.

"Hey Betty, how was your internship?" Cecilia asked the older girl politely and Betty smiled while informing the smaller blonde about her summer. While Cecilia and Betty were never very close they were both very fond of the Andrews siblings, this and overbearing parents being what the two bonded over (which they rarely did).

After staying to chat with the older teens for a few moments longer, the younger two went off to their own booth at the back corner of Pop's diner. Cecilia was sitting with her back to the entrance of the building and Holly having a full clear view of the entire diner. Pop Tate himself came over to the girls table promptly and questioned them about their summers, making sure they knew he was upset he hadn't seen either of them during the three-month break. The girls ordered burgers and fries as well as a vanilla milkshake (for Cecilia) and a chocolate milkshake (for Holly).

Holly and Cecilia spent the rest of their time talking about an array of topics, mostly what Chicago was like and what their freshman year would be like. All Holly could seem to think about it when it came to their new school was the older boys and finally being able to position herself in the ranks of one Cheryl Blossom. She admired the older ginger girl, she didn't want to follow in Cheryl's footsteps because let's be honest, the girl is a bitch but she wanted to have the power Cheryl had over people. Holly wanted to be an IT girl, the girl everyone envied and loved all at once. Cecilia on the other hand was perfectly content in being by Holly side in her quest for power and popularity, her quiet best friend attempting to be invisible.

"Oh my god speaking of school, I bought the cutest outfit for you when I was in Chicago! You should totally wear it tomorrow." Holly informed her best friend while she grinned and sipped at her milkshake. Cecilia smiled genuinely at the ginger across from her, she was nodding along with Holly while she slurped her own milkshake.

"I would love to but I can't make any promises, you know how my parents are when it comes to their _perfect_ daughter's image." Cecilia replied bitterly and swirled her straw around the glass absentmindedly. Holly gave Cecilia a sympathetic smile and reached across the diner table to pat her hand.

"What they don't know won't kill them," Cecilia gave Holly a pointed look before she giggled quietly and raised her hands in surrender. "It's not anything outrageous or scandalous, I promise."

"I'm assuming this perfect outfit is at your house?" Cecilia sighed with a small smile. Holly nodded furiously while giving her best friend a wide grin. The two girls laughed at each other before agreeing to ditch the diner and head over to the Andrews household. They got out of the booth, linking their arms together and passing Pop Tate as he came to present them with the bill.

"Oh, he'll be paying for our meal tonight, it was great as always Pop." Holly informed the older man while she gave him a sickly-sweet smile and pointed to her older brother. All the while Cecilia stood behind her, stifling her giggles with her fist as to not burst out laughing as the two threw Archie under the proverbial bus. Pop smiled back at the girls as they made a dash for the exit before Archie figured out what was going on, the two of them having to all but push past an average height brunette in all black. The two fifteen-year old's hurried by the girl and made way for the door when Holly stopped to look at this mysterious new girl and grinned as she pointed at her.

"Love the cape." The unfamiliar girl – Veronica Lodge – smiled and thanked the younger girl as Cecilia ran back to the diner and latched onto Holly's arm. Cecilia successfully pulled her out of the diner while the both of them threw goodbyes and see you later's over their shoulders, mostly directed towards Archie. Holly hopped on Cecilia's bicycle and Cecilia assumed her usual spot on the handle bars as was the normal for the two girls when they had to share transportation – and then the two sped away giggling and screaming at one another as they bobbed and weaved their way out of sight.

The trio in the diner watched in silence as the blonde and redhead faded from view, each with different expressions – Archie had a wide smile on his face at the girl's behaviour, Betty had a small smile as she knew how important the best friends were to the boy she had been in love with for years, and Veronica had an amused and puzzled smile plaster on her lips.

"Those your little sisters or something?" The dark-haired beauty questioned the childhood best friends that sat in the booth before her. Snapping out of their trance the both of them chuckled and shook their heads in amusement.

"The redhead, that's Holly and the blonde, that's Cece. Well Cecilia to everyone but Holly and me." Archie informed the ravishing Latina stood before him who smiled down at him.

"Holly is Archie's little sister and Cecilia, well she may as well be the third Andrews sibling. Those two have been best friends since…well, forever." Betty added to the conversation, trying to find a subtle way to impede in the conversation. Veronica smiled down at Betty as she spoke finding the story sweet and almost touching, she'd never had a friend like that.

"Yeah, been attached at the hip forever too. Holly and Cece would come to our house whenever they hung out when they were little. Eventually having Cece around or staying at the house for days at a time was a normal everyday thing." Archie stated happily reliving the memories of his youth looking out for his wild little sister and her quiet best friend. Veronica and Betty both looked on the Andrews boy with smiles and adoring eyes, they had both fallen under the boys spell the second they met him and for the most part he was oblivious.

"They're lucky, too have each other I mean. Not to mention an adoring protective pseudo brother such as yourself." Veronica complimented Archie and he grinned at the girl. It was clear to anyone who knew Archie – even if they had just met him – that he adored the two younger girls, no matter how annoying they could get.

"Here you go kids" Pop Tate spoke as he placed a slip of paper on Archie and Betty's booth table, flashing the teens a friendly smile and leaving them once more. The three sophomore's eyebrows knitted as they looked down at the piece of paper, Betty reached over and grabbed the paper. Her eyes scanned the black ink on the small slip for a few moments before her face broke out into a large grin and giggles started falling from her lips. Veronica and Archie gave her an odd look when she made eye contact with the two and Betty just shook her head and slipped the paper over to Archie across the table.

"They've left you to foot the bill, Arch" The blonde informed her ginger friend whose face dropped, while Veronica on the other hand tried to put a stop from the giggles spilling from her lips with her hand. Archie snatched the bill from the table top and looked it over with a furrowed brow, he then huffed a breath out of his nose and shook his head as he reached for his wallet.

"Son of a bitch."

Cecilia and Holly made it to the Andrews house hold in record time and the two rushed into the brightly lit home as they laughed uncontrollable to one another. The front door slammed behind them as they entered arguing about who was the cuter TV show character, their loud booming voices catching the attention of Holly and Archie's father Fred.

"No no no, Edward is a million times cuter than Jerome; and plus! He's not as crazy!" Holly exclaimed while Cecilia and herself made their way up the stairs to the second floor. Cecilia shook her head adamant to rebut her friend's argument.

"Um okay, the dude killed the woman he was in love with and started talking to the evil version of himself….and started sleeping with a woman who looked exactly the same as the woman he killed! At least Jerome owns his psychosis" Fred Andrews immerged from the kitchen as his daughter and her best friend – whom he viewed as his second daughter – laughed hysterically. This brought a smile to his face, he was glad that even after all the two had been through together they were still able to make each other laugh. After his divorce from his wife, Fred noticed his daughter had become quieter and Holly being a normally extremely loud girl had worried him.

"Hey you two, what's so funny?" Fred questioned his daughter and the girl who was his daughter in every way but genetics,from his spot next to the banister, he leaned on the post at the bottom of the staircase while he looked up at the two. The girls smiled down at their father figure and informed him that it was nothing, Fred smiled and shook his head at the teens antics.

"We missed you this summer Cece, glad to have you back" Fred smiled at the blonde girl who flashed him her teeth and 'awed' him with a hand on her heart. Cecilia ran down the stairs and threw herself into Fred Andrews arms, the two squeezed each other tightly as they smiled brightly. Truth be told, Fred had worried about Cecilia all summer; about her well being, how she was fairing with her whole summer being run but her parents. Cecilia on the other hand was just glad to back at the only place she had ever felt at home in and with the wonderful people that made up the Andrews family.

"I missed you guys too" Was all she was able to utter without choking up, always surprised at the family's kindness. They pulled away from each other, Fred giving Cecilia a fatherly kiss on the temple, and Cecilia then resumed rushing up the stairs behind Holly. The girl in question stopped halfway up the stairs and turned to her father.

"Dad, would it be cool if I stay at Cece's tonight? So we can get ready for the first day, please?!" The redhead pleaded with her dad who stood below the pair smiling at them.

"I don't know Hol…." Fred trailed off, it wasn't that he wasn't okay with the two sleeping over on a school night – they had been doing it since they were eleven – he just didn't want either of them staying at the Kane house. It was safe to assume Fred Andrews and Duncan Kane didn't see eye to eye, Fred wasn't fond of Duncan even before he found out how he dealt with insolence in his home. After the first time Cecilia showed up on the Andrews front porch soaked from the rain and barely able to breath when she was nine, Fred couldn't remember anything else ever making him so enraged.

"Fred it's cool, they're out of town until Sunday." Cecilia informed the older man with a small but sad smile. "So, is it okay?"

Fred was silent for a few moments as he stared at the teenage girls, they were smiling at him sweetly and hopping they would get the go ahead. It was a long silence that made the anticipation that much more dramatic but Fred Andrews sighed in defeat and nodded at the two girls request. They both cheered loudly and thanked Fred over and over before going to run up to Holly's bedroom and then promptly leaving but Fred stopped them.

"You can go but you will be going to bed at a decent hour and you will be on time, if not early, for school in the morning. That goes for the both of you." Fred had gone into serious parent mode and was even pointing at the two which only made them giggle at his attempt at being a strict parent. Holly and Cecilia nodded quickly at the man while uttering words of agreement before they yelled a thank you to the guardian and ran upstairs squealing about the next day.

They weren't at the Andrews' for much longer, when they got to Holly's bedroom she ran to collect the outfit she had bought for her best friend and pack a bag. Cecilia on the other hand ran to grab all Holly's necessities for the next day and when the two were done they rushed back down the stairs and outside to their bicycles while yelling goodbyes to Fred. Then the two were off on their own separate bicycles to Cecilia's house two streets away with Fred waving them goodbye and wishing them a good first day from his front porch.

The two girls continued on their way laughing and chattering away about the much anticipated first day, this filled up the short time from the Andrews' home to the Kane home. Once arriving the girls rushed into the house and up to Cecilia's bedroom, just as they had at the Andrews', to start putting together 'first day of school' outfits. Holly and Cecilia's night was spent blasting the radio and singing and dancing obnoxiously to it, eating junk food and gossiping, and ended with a stupid movie they barely watched. They were ecstatic about being reunited after a long three months apart from one another and they couldn't be more excited about their first day of high school as they had been waiting for years to 'finally' be in high school. But as they fell into a deep slumber neither could have guessed their freshman year would be as spine-chilling and heartbreaking as it would turn out to be.

* * *

 **So that's done, hope someone liked it. Remember to private message me or review with questions, comments, helpful tips, if you just want to talk. I'll read 'em and reply. Have a nice night/day/morning/afternoon everybody!**

 **-Sunny out**


	2. The First Day & The Encounter

**Hey Again!**

 **I'm back, how's it hanging?**

 **Honestly the feedback I got on the first chapter of the Wild Side really surprised me, I'm so glad those who liked it let me know! I really appreciate it and am so glad that those of you were so kind as to write me a review said how you liked the direction I was starting to go.**

 **A quick shout out to Jenny.s.72, Megwsimon7, asia2802, madstar95 and Emilee for you guys who favorited and followed and reviewing, seeing that you guys enjoyed it and wanted to see more is actually the whole reason I'm posting again so soon. Originally I wasn't planning to post again until my next day off (which is tuesday and the possibility of me posting again then is highly likely). With the positive feedback I really wanted to give you guys more because your support made me feel all warm and happy, so thank you for that 3 3**

 **Any whodoole, enough of that and on to the next chapter!**

* * *

It was six o'clock when the dynamic duo woke on their long awaited first day of high school. It was currently eight o'clock. School started at 8:45 and what had put a teensy wrench in Holly Andrews and Cecilia Kane's morning was the outfit Holly had bought her best friend and had refused to reveal until the morning of.

"Holly, are you freaking serious? I can't wear that to school, I'd be fucking murdered!" Cecilia all but shouted, wide eyed at her best friend from across the room. Holly was holding the outfit up to her own body all while raising her eyebrows suggestively at her cross armed friend.

"Come on Cece! It meets almost all your parent's criteria and I know for a fact it would look super hot on you. Please let me play life sized Barbie just this once?" Holly pleaded with Cecilia while the blonde stared at the outfit in hand skeptically. She couldn't help but think of the numerous possibilities of what could happen if her parents found out she wore something like that in public.

"I don't know Hol, if my parents found out I would be in a lot of trouble." Cecilia said, trying to reason with the redhead who sighed.

"Do you seriously think high schoolers are going to go home and tell their parents about what Cecilia Kane wore to school today? Can you at least try it on?" Cecilia stared at her friend and the outfit for a long while until she slowly reached out and took the clothes in her hands. Staring down at the fabric as she walked to her vanity to change, Cecilia could feel her heart beating out of control in her chest to a point where she almost felt uncomfortable. Oddly enough, she found herself enjoying the feeling because it was the feeling of anticipation to break the rules which she had never done before. It was the rush of adrenaline at the thought of risking being caught breaking the rules, the excitement of it all! It made her want to do it that much more.

Cecilia lay down the outfit on her vanity seat and stared at it for a moment, the longer she stared at it the more she found herself liking the outfit until she finally decided to put it on. Holly had bought her another pair of shreaded black jeans that fit her like a second skin and stopped just below her belly button, the shirt was a flowly white lace tank top that met the top of the jeans. But more to much or try to reach for something and her mid section would be exposed to the world and because Holly knew Cecilia wasn't yet ready to rock a tank top on it's own, she provided a light acid wash denim jacket.

"Woah...I knew you'd look hot, damn I'm good." Holly spoke from behind Cecilia as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. They were both stunned at how different certain clothing could make someone look. Cecilia knew she looked good but what made her smile brighter than she had in a long time was that she felt good. She felt great actually, the swirling feeling of excitement of rebelling filled her along with a feeling of calm, like she had looked into the mirror and caught a short glimpse of the girl she wanted to be.

Up until that moment her entire life had been controlled by her parents, everything from what activities she partook in to what she wore and ate and everything else in between. Cecilia never was given a chance to make any of her own decisions and making the decision - however small it may have been - to wear an outfit she knew her parents wouldn't approve of excited her. To a point where she couldn't find the correct words to describe the amount of joy the breaking of said rules made her.

"Hol?" Cecilia asked in a slightly timid voice. Holly admired her friend in the mirror one more time before looking her in the eye and smiling. "Thank you, I love it."

"What are friends for." Holly responded as she wrapped her arms around the front of her tiny blonde friend and squeezed while grinning. When they let go of each other Holly clapped her hands together dramatically while demanding Cecilia sit on the vanity seat in front of her. Cecilia was confused until Holly began her assault of make up, taking her time as she had been dressed and ready to go for at least forty-five minutes now.

The friends walked to school together side by side chatting about a variety of topics and laughing to one another, Holly would also occasionally make comments about Cecilia that were enough to make her blush red. It wasn't to long of a walk from the Kane household to Riverdale High - ten minutes at most - so the two were pretty early. To kill time, they decided to walk around the grounds to just admire their new school and wait for it to start filing up, that didn't take very long.

Holly and Cecilia walked through the doors of Riverdale High, receiving more attention than Cecilia had anticipated or even wanted. People were turning their heads to catch a glimpse of the two freshmen aas they walked down the hall looking for their designated lockers, Cecilia turned her head as she walked trying to catch glimpses of her classmates as she walked. She had had lots of people look at her before, at town events she was forced to make an appearance at with her parents but this time was different. At those events she was always dressed the way her parents wanted - which was extremely conservative - and they wanted her covered up but walking through the halls of her new school she was being watched like a hawk. This was by far the most scandalous outfit she'd ever worn.

Cecilia saw a look of recognition and relization followed by shook on some of the students faces when she walked by them, no doubt realizing that it was Duncan Kane's timid daughter strutting down the hall. She saw a lot of people needing to look from her to Holly to fully believe what they were seeing wasn't a trick of light but reality. Is this how Holly felt everyday?

The entire time the pair walked down the hall side by side Cecilia's stomach was doing flips at the attention. It made her nervous to say the least so she just focused on the tapping sound the ankle boots Holly had bought her made on the lithium floor. This was also another first for Cecilia, ankle boots. Her mom never let her wear or even own a pair as Maryanne thought the were 'trashy' and would 'leave them for the Southsider's to sport'. Although she still forced her daughter into a pair of six inch pumps nearly everyday for school, making the teenager highly aggravated because of the pain in her feet. However, Cecilia couldn't help but notice how much she really liked them and found them to be the most comfortable pair of shoes she'd worn all summer. Perhaps that was attributed to them being only an inch tall.

"Ahh look at that, the littlest Andrews!" Reggie Mantle exclaimed as Moose Mason, Archie and himself walked up to the dup. Holly gave the older boy a sarcastic smile followed by her middle finger, only causing the three older boys to chuckle at the fiery redhead.

"What's up big brother and co?" She inquired of the older redhead and his teammates while she smirked at them, getting her flirting A-game ready.

"Got home last night and you weren't there, figured you'd be at Cece's. Oh, and thanks for leaving me to piick up your tab at Pop's last night, really enjoyed that." Archie sassed his little sister, furrowing his brow in a joking manner while Holly smiled brightly and thanked him. It was just a moment after the exchange that Cecilia's presence was known by the older boys and to say they were shocked would be an understatement.

"Cece? Holy crap, Holly what the hell did you do?" Archie stared at the young blonde wide eyed and in shock. He'd never seen her look so...mature? Her own age? Happy with herself? Yes, to all three.

"Hey! Why are you saying it like it's a bad thing, she looks amazing! Don't you agree boys?" Holly questioned her brother's friends with a raised eyebrow and sly smile as she already knew what their answer would be. She was just trying to help boost Cecilia's confidence meter a few notches higher.

"Absolutely!"

"Definitely." Reggie and Moose answered simultaneously as they gawked at Cecilia. The girl in question raised her books a little higher and closer to her chest while shooting the two an awkward smile and muttering an almost inaudible 'thanks'. Holly stepped back into step with Cecilia and hooked their arms together, she first smiled at her best friend encouragingly to which Cecilia rolled her eyes and grinned back at her. Holly then turned to Archie and smiled once more, he looked very confused about whether or not Cecilia was actually wearing what he thought she was.

"Well while you three stand there catching flies in your mouths, Cece and I are headed to class. See you guys later? Lunch Arch?" Holly asked as she walked by the footballers grinning at them again and pulling her best friend along with her. The two didn't look back as they walked away from the boys and it wasn't until they were out of earshot that the boys spoke again.

"I don't get it man," Reggie started as he stared down the hallway longingly, hoping the freshmen kid sister and pseudo sister of his ginger friend would come back. "How the hell do you live with that?"

Archie turned and glared at the taller teen before pushing him harshly into a row of lockers, Reggie only laughed at his friend's reaction and had to use the same wall he was pushed into to hold himself up. Moose was smiling and chuckling at the two other boys, he didn't say anything as he was considered to be dumb but he sure wasn't stupid enough to make a comment about the exchange with the two most important girls in Archie's life. He knew how that would end.

"Dude, dude, I'm sorry but come on! Your sister is hot and Cecilia? Damn." Reggie stated as he chased after his retreating friends, this only gained him another solid punch to the arm.

"Reggie I'm serious, don't even think about hooking up with my sister. Either of them, I mean it." Archie informed Reggie as he looked him in the eye, trying to convey how serious he was about the two girls being off limits. Reggie sighed in defeat but ultimately nodded and held his hands up in surrender, Archie then bid his teammates goodbye as they went their separate ways.

"Oh my god that was so embarrassing! Did you see Archie's face, he looked freaking horrified!" Cecilia ranted as she and Holly rushed down the hall towards their homeroom and away from the awkward encounter that had taken place only moments before. Holly giggles at her friend's panic as she continued ranting about how awkward she now felt, wishing she had just worn her casual wear of a tee shirt and jeans. Holly rolled her eyes at the blonde before she stopped her in the middle of the busy hallway, successfully putting an end to her rant. The redhead pulled Cecilia to the side and put her hands on her friend's shoulders.

"Listen here Kandy Kane," She started and caused Cecilia to bark out a short laugh and smile. "You look fucking amazing, maybe the best you've ever looked but if you don't believe it then no one else will, alright?" Holly finished while still staring into Cecilia's green eyes intensely, trying to somehow give her some of her own confidence through the shared eye contact. Cecilia sighed and opened her mouth to rebut her best friend but the redhead was not having it, she lifted her hand quickly to silence the doubt about to pour out of Cecilia's mouth.

"Don't you dare even tell me you don't look amazing, or that you're not enjoying taking however small of a walk on the wild side." She raised an auburn brow high on her face and smiled knowingly at the blonde. Cecilia pursed her lips in thought with a frown on her face for a few moments before a smile broke out once more, lighting up her features Holly had accentuated with some makeup. Nothing to crazy, just the smallest amount of eyeliner, mascara and some lip chap because Cecilia had absolutely refused to wear lipstick.

"Okay, okay, okay. You're right, about all of it even the 'enjoying it' part." Cecilia told her friend and the two grinned at each other before doing their 'secret' handshake, giggling all the way down the hall to their first class of their high school career.

The morning classes hadn't even begun when the entire school was called to the gymnasium for an assembly, this being the assembly in which Cheryl Blossom delivered a speech about her dearly departed brother with - eerily enough - little to no emotion. Not one single tear was shed and it creeped Holly out but Cecilia chalked it all up to everyone processing grief in their own way. The entire student body cheered when it was announced that the back to school semi-formal was to proceed as planned and then the assembly was over and all the students were excused, slowly trickling out of the gymnasium doors to their regularly scheduled classes.

The two girls shared their first and second period classes - English and math - and naturally sat next to each other, Holly barely paying any attention while she and Cecilia passed a piece of paper back and forth between them. They were playing tic tac toe and writing silly notes to one another trying to see who would crack up laughing first (it was usually Cecilia). They spent their morning opting to not listen and play their tic tac toe instead of listening to their teachers and at the end of the class they'd write down the homework for the night.

It was finally lunch time and the two girls couldn't be more thankful, they both hadn't eaten this morning and were starving. They made detours at their lockers as they were only around the corner from one another and made their way to the lunchroom. There wasn't a great variety of choice in the Riverdale High lunch menu but there was something for everyone, Holly decided on some fries and a cookie while Cecilia went for a rice bowl. The two walked with linked arms into the outdoor picnic benches looking for the oldest Andrews sibling to sit with, and find him they did.

Archie was at a shaded picnic table with Betty and Kevin Keller, he was reluctant to do so but he was letting them listen to a demo he recorded of a song he wrote over the summer and was incredibly nervous about hearing what they had to say about it. He watched his friends intensely, trying to see if he could read their thoughts from their facial expressions but he had never been good at that sort of thing unless it was Holly or Cecilia. Archie stared to intensely and nervously that he didn't even notice thee two aforementioned girls approach the table.

"I didn't know you could sing." Holly stated as she squeezed herself into the bench next to her brother and Cecilia sat across from her beside Kevin, offering the sophomores a wide grin. Archie nodded awkwardly at the two of them seeing as he hadn't meant for them to find out about his music yet.

"Yeah Arch, you sound great." Cecilia encouraged before taking a bite out of an apple she had grabbed from her house that morning. The group around him nodded in agreement at the sentiment and as much as Archie appreciated it he still felt very uncouth about the whole thing.

"Cecilia? Is that really you?" Kevin inquired of the blonde on his right, making her blush a furious shade of red and nod. He looked at the Kane girl with wide shocked eyes for a few moments before he turned to her red-haired accomplice with an accusatory expression.

"This is your doing, isn't it?" Holly grinned brightly at the brown-haired boy as she nodded, proud of her work. "I approve, excellent work."

Holly and Kevin grinned at each other while Cecilia looked upon the two laughing as they began to talk about what stores she shopped at and what Chicago boys were like. Cecilia was quiet as she ate and listened on her friend's conversation absentmindedly, her eyes scanned the courtyard as she did so. You could clearly see the clicks forming, even on the first day, and it was interesting to see how they interacted with one another. The jocks were laughing and smiling at each other's jokes, you would know just by looking how close a lot of them were and on the opposite end of the spectrum was the IT girl table that Cheryl sat at. No one was really smiling like they meant it and the only person speaking was Cheryl, even when someone tried to speak up you could tell it was either ignored or shot down by the redheaded leader of the River Vixens.

"Can I join?" A voice spoke from the end of the table and all eyes turned to see Veronica Lodge. They all agreed and Kevin and Cecilia scooted down the bench as far as they could without falling off to allow her to squeeze in with them.

"Hey aren't you cape girl?" Holly questioned the brunette curiously and Cecilia almost spat out her gulp of water at her best friend's bluntness. Kevin patted the blonde girl's back as she coughed and sputtered, attempting to clear her airways as she bellowed openly not caring about the looks she was getting from other students.

"Cape girl?" Kevin questioned the female Andrews as Cecilia calmed down gradually.

"Last night at Pop's? Oh, Kevin you should have seen it, the most adorable little black cape. Never thought they'd come back in style but hey, you my dear pull it off like no one's business." Holly complimented the older brunette, whose look of slight offense melted into one of adoration for the ginger. Holly then leaned across the table from her seat on the bench with an outstretched hand as a show of friendship.

"Holly Andrews and that's Cece Kane, nice finally making your acquaintance." Veronica grinned at the girl and shook her outstretched hand, shaking it eagerly.

"Nice too meet you too, now I remember you two. You're Archiekins' sister and quasi sister, correct? Veronica Lodge." Veronica answered as she grinned at the two younger girls whose eyebrows disappeared into their hairlines at the mention of her name. Of course, they had been hearing all about Veronica Lodge - well mostly her father - all morning and had been curious as to when they would catch a glimpse of the elusive beauty. They just didn't expect it to be her asking to sit at their lunch table with them.

"Awe Archiekins? That's adorable!" Cecilia exclaimed while she grinned at the other around the table, Archie gave her a pointed look. "Oh, and it's Cecilia, Holly and Arch are the only people that call me Cece."

Veronica nodded as she made a mental note of the blonde's comment while Holly began teasing her brother over the nickname he had been bestowed by Veronica. He didn't really mind it being used among his close friend group but he would die if anyone else were to hear the name let alone use it. But with his sister being as loud as she was he knew it would be difficult - near impossible - to get her to put a cork in it.

"What are we doing?" Veronica questioned the others as she took her seat after the long introductions.

"Listening to one of Archie's songs." Betty informed her in a loving tone and smiling at the boy in question. Cecilia, Holly and Kevin smirked at each other as it was painfully obvious what the older blonde's feelings were towards Archie.

"I thought we were gonna have to pretend to like it," Kevin started while he glanced at Archie slightly squinity faced. "But it's actually really good."

"As much as I want to say something mean to push your buttons, I agree with Kevin." Holly informed her brother while she and the sheriff's son high-fived each other, making the group chuckle.

"Wait, that was you singing...something you wrote?" Veronica questioned looking around at the smiling and eagerly nodding faces that surrounded her.

"It's rough."

"No, it's great." Betty encouraged before Archie had the chance to shoot himself down.

"It's incredible, actually. The little snippet I heard." Veronica praised Archie's music while Betty stared at the girl curiously, was she flirting with Archie? Even after the conversation she had had with Kevin and the heiress of Lodge Industries earlier?

"Is that your thing? Music? Are you doing something with that?" She questioned further unaware of the looks she was receiving from the blonde on Archie's right.

"That's the plan." He answered her with an anxious expression as he shared glances with his sister and Cecilia, who both gave him a look before going back to their lunches. It was well known among the three that Fred had sort of planned Archie's future for him; go to college on football scholarship, business school then come back to good ole Riverdale to help Fred manage the family business, Andrews Construction. Music really didn't have a place in the grand plan.

"So, how's your first day going? All of you, Good?" Archie questioned the three new girls seated at the table. Holly and Cecilia didn't say much other than a 'meh' and 'it could be worse' while they both shrugged.

"Not to be a complete narcissist, but I thought people would be more - " Veronica was interrupted by a completely enamored Kevin.

"Obsessed with you?"

"Way to be blunt Kevin." Cecilia reprimanded while she nudged the older boy lightly. He shrugged at the young blonde and continued with his train of thought.

"Any other year, you'd be trending number one for sure. This year though, it's all about Cheryl trying to win the Best Supporting Psycho Oscar for her role as Riverdale High's bereaved Red Widow." Kevin elaborated for Veronica to make her fell better and a task in which he succeeded, making her and the always laughing dynamic duo laugh some more.

Approaching the lunch table was none other than the topic of their conversation, Cheryl Blossom, and as she neared Archie excused himself for his meeting with the school's music teacher he couldn't get out of his head. Everyone bid him adieu and when he was out of earshot Kevin came down on Betty for not having asked the ginger haired boy to the semi-formal, the two argued until the aptly named 'Red Widow' arrived at her target destination.

"Veronica Lodge. I'd heard whisperings. I'm Cheryl Blossom. May I sit? Betty, would you mind?" Cheryl didn't wait for an answer as she gracefully lowered herself into the space the aforementioned blonde had vacated. As she sat, not paying any attention to anything besides Veronica, Cecilia gave Holly a panicked look to which the young redhead nodded to convey she understood. The Blossom's and the Kane's were very close, they may not have actually liked each other but they sure pretended to. The best friends were both certain if Clifford and Penelope happened to find out about the drastic change in Cecilia's choice of dress somehow, it would definitely find it's way to Duncan and Maryanne.

They stood from their seats and tried to exit the situation promptly without drawing attention to themselves but that hope was a pipe dream. They were both stopped by Veronica calling out to them and having not gotten very far, they couldn't pretend they hadn't heard her.

"Where you guys off too?" The clueless brunette questioned the freshmen, Holly and Cecilia shared a look before Holly spun around to respond while Cecilia kept her back to the table.

"Uhh, we have uh a thing we gotta..." Holly trailed off as she became flustered, she was usually very good at thinking on the spot but she was at a loss of words as Cheryl's dark intimidating eyes locked on her.

"We gotta pee." She finished while shrugging and stepping away from the group slowly and pulling Cecilia along as she always did. Cecilia's eyes grew to be the size of basketballs at the excuse and she would have laughed if it weren't such a tense situation. The table gave the two girls an odd look - Cheryl's was one of slight disgust - while Holly smiled and yelled goodbye as she and Cecilia were almost sprinting towards the school building.

"What the hell is wrong with fem Archie?" Cheryl questioned the group, Kevin and Betty gave her an over exaggerated 'no idea' while Veronica was just as puzzled as the Red Widow was.

"You don't think she noticed?" Cecilia questioned Holly out of breath once they had entered the school once again, finally out of the danger zone.

"Who really knows, this is Cheryl Blossom we're talking about. She's always got a trick or two up her sleeve." Holly told her friend with a guilty expression knowing Cecilia only wore the outfit because she had pushed it on her. If Cecilia got in trouble or worse for it, it would be Holly's fault.

"Shit." The small blonde mumbled under her breath as they headed for their lockers for a book swap.

"I'm sorry Cece, I shouldn't have pressured you to wear it. You don't think she'll say anything do you?" Holly apologized as she felt the agonizing feeling of guilt bubble through her body. Cecilia shrugged, running a hand through her hair, and gave the slightly taller girl a look of uncertainty. Cheryl was a wild card, there was no way to know for sure what she would do with the information.

"It's fine Hol, I chose to wear it in the end. So," Cecilia began as she stopped her friend in the middle of the bare hallway, smiling. "Let's make it worth it yeah?"

A bright grin broke out on Holly's face at her friend's surfacing confidence, the two shared large smiles before linking arms and giving each other a nod. They then properly strutted down the halls of Riverdale High with their heads held high the rest of the day.

" _'You wanted fire? Well sorry Cheryl bombshell, my specialty's ice.'_ God that was freaking perfect! You are my hero!" Holly squealed in delight as she walked alongside Betty, Veronica and Cecilia. All newly initiated River Vixens taking a stroll around the track after tryouts let out. The girls laughed together as Holly started pretending to bow to Veronica, who in turn pretended to act modest.

"I thought you looked up to Cheryl, Holly?" Betty questioned her neighbour with a smile. She was touched by Veronica's show of loyalty in the gymnasium, standing up to Cheryl when she was just standing there taking it blow by blow.

"I look up to her in the sense that I too want to be able to bend people to my own will, but the girl's a fucking witch." Holly chuckled as she informed the group.

"You do realize you already _can_ bend people to your own will, right?" Cecilia queried of her friend with a patronizing smile that Holly scoffed at and threw one of the carrot sticks she had been snacking on in her direction. Cecilia shielded her face from the projectile and laughed along with her teammates as they walked, it wasn't long before Veronica called Archie over to the group.

"Hi teen outlander." Veronica greeted Archie with a smile.

"Sup big bro." Holly spoke up from Veronica's left, smirking and waving at Reggie and Moose as they ran past. Archie rolled his eyes at his little sister and Cecilia laughed and nudged her friend to get her to cut it out, Holly only laughed.

"Hey, nice outfits. How the hell did you make the team Hol?" Archie inquired of the girls, directing the end bit to his sister who gave him an over exaggerated grin and the finger.

"If you get home before me let dad know I'm at Cece's, will ya?" It wasn't really a request but Archie nonetheless nodded, letting her know that they knew if she wasn't at home she was with Cece. Then the two youngest in the group walked off saying goodbye as they did not want to be witness to the train wreck of a conversation that was about to commence.

The two walked to the Kane residence, the entire walk squealing about having become River Vixens as it was their goal to do so. Not many could claim to be one and they were now apart of the privileged few, not wanting to change out of their uniforms quite yet they wandered into town. Neither girl had been asked to the semi-formal but Holly had the confidence to assure Cecilia that they'd be asked, and even if they weren't asked they still planned to go. That meant they needed dresses to wear and the duo were more than happy to have the excuse to shop, they raided a few stores down the main street in town. They didn't plan on buying today as they had just come from school and didn't have any money but they wanted to know what their options were before they decided. After a few hours in town trying on a countless number of dresses, the two had finally made it home and they were exhausted.

"Seriously, who gives homework on the first day back? I'll tell ya who," Holly hollered as she collapsed on her best friends extremely comfortable bed. "Satan! That's who!"

"Holly, its literally a contact information sheet for the office." Cecilia reminded the ginger as she laughed and joined her on the bed.

"Doesn't change the fact that it's homework." Holly rebutted. Cecilia rolled her eyes at her friend's frustration, Cecilia had filled out the sheet and handed it in while at school which Holly could have easily done as well. Instead she chose to doodle on the page rather than fill in the blanks. The two girls lay on the bed n silence for what seemed like hours but wasn't - definitely a solid five minutes - before Holly gasped loudly.

"I have an idea!" She said to a startled Cecilia who had also shot up off her bed but ended up on her bedroom floor instead. Cecilia held a hand to her chest and was breathing heavily trying to calm herself and her rapidly beating heart down, she stared up at her grinning friend on her bed incredulously.

"Oh really? Couldn't freaking tell." She muttered and grabbed Holly's outstretched hand, allowing her to pull her back onto her bed. Once she was seated atop the mattress once more she raised a brow at Holly - who looked about ready to explode and was smiling like a crazy person.

"Okay so this idea, you're not going to like it. But!" Holly exclaimed when Cecilia interrupted her, telling her no way. "No! Come on, hear me out!"

"You just told me I wouldn't like it!"

"But you should still listen because if I don't say it out loud I'm gonna drive myself nuts." Holly then grinned hopefully at Cecilia and held on to her hands, squeezing for effect. Cecilia rolled her eyes and motioned for the girl to continue.

"Okay, so we just successfully completed out first day of high school AND made it on to the cheer squad all in one day and I say we celebrate!" Holly explained to Cecilia who was now rather confused.

"What about that was I not going to like? It sounds fun, we could rent a movie and get some junk food and hangout for the night." Cecilia suggested to Holly as she raised her eyebrows in a questioning way.

"We do that all the time and as fun as it may be, I say we go have some real fun. Take a walk on the literal _wild side_ if you will." Holly grinned in accomplishment at her brilliant thought while Cecilia had to take a minute to understand what she meant by _'the literal wild side'_. She stared at the redhead unmoving for a solid forty-five seconds before gasping and starting to shake her head erratically.

"Holly no! No no no, we can't go to the Southside are you crazy?! They'll take one look at us and I promise you there will be two less northsider's in Riverdale." Cecilia frantically tried to talk some sense into her apparently suicidal best friend.

It was no secret that the people living on the Southside had no love for people from the Northside and vice versa, the Northside (i.e. Mayor McCoy and Duncan Kane) accusing the Southside of dragging Riverdale down. Neither girl had ever been to the Southside before but had been curious about it for years, was it really so different from the Northside as everyone claimed? Where Cecilia was curious about it, she never ever planned or even contemplated the possibility of actually going there. She only ever heard terrible things from her father, who quite possibly hated the Southside the most as he though the Southside was an ugly festering sore on the face of the town he loved so much.

"Come on! How would they know, we dress a little edgier, put on some more make up and act the part, they'll be none the wiser." Holly attempted to convince her overly cautious best friend.

"Holly come on, it's not safe for us over there. Me especially! My dad's the biggest advocate for the anti-southsider movement and besides that, northsider's aren't welcome there. How would we even get there! On our bikes?" Cecilia questioned her friend exasperatedly as she tried to drown out the feeling of excitement building in her stomach. It was a terrible idea, yes, but where Cecilia's brain was saying _hell no_ the rest of her was saying _do it,_ there was a piece of herself - a voice if you will - that wanted to go and it wanted to go badly. But if she thought her parent's reaction to the outfit she wore that day would be bad, what they would do if they found out she had been traipsing around on the Southside would easily be a million times worse.

"Well you don't have to tell anyone who you are, we go once and then we never have to go back again! No one has to know who you are," Holly informed the timid blonde in front of her before giving her a half-guilty look. "As for a ride, what would you do if I told you I knew a guy?"

"You've been to the Southside!?" Cecilia screamed in shock at Holly whose eyes became saucers at the volume of her voice. Both girls reached to Cecilia's mouth to stifle the sound being released from it.

"Not really, I went to a party at the beginning of the summer though. It was at a house within eyeshot of the divide line so naturally a lot of southsider's showed up." Cecilia was staring unblinkingly at Holly as she didn't have a response for the girl, which was odd seeing as she almost always had a response for her.

"I promise we don't have to be there long, an hour at most and Joaquin will be like our personal body guard. It'll be fun, I swear." Holly prodded gently when seeing the fear and hesitation in Cecilia's green eyes. She wasn't all that afraid of the Southside as a whole but she was afraid of the gangs that were known to run rampant there. Cecilia was also afraid of her parent's wrath.

"What if someone recognizes me from the papers? Cecilia Kane, daughter of Duncan and Maryanne Kane. It'd be like starting a witch hunt and my dad, I don't even want to think about what he would do to me if he found out." Cecilia rambled anxiously staring down at her hands while wiping her palms on the sides of the skirt of her uniform. Holly pursed her lips at her friend's discomfort, she felt bad for even suggesting the idea having now thought on it for a moment. So, she sat herself next to Cecilia at the edge of the bed and held her warm clammy hand in her own trying to comfort her.

"Okay, maybe it wasn't the greatest idea I've ever had. I'm sorry for even suggesting it, I'll drop it but be honest with me first. You broke your parent's rules today for the first time in your entire life, it felt good to do something bad. To do what you wanted, right?" Holly questioned the blonde as she stared at her hung head curiously, she wanted to hear Cecilia say it. Hell, she wanted Cecilia to hear herself say it. Cecilia huffed before looking up to Holly with a small smile on her face, she felt bad because truthfully it did sound like a good time but her fear of consequence out weighed the possibility of fun.

"It did, it sounds stupid but it made me feel alive. Like I was getting a small chance to be who I wanted to be for a day." She answered the grinning redhead as Holly wrapped her arms around her shoulders and hugged her, a hug in which she returned.

"Maybe we'll work you up to a night on the Southside." Holly teased and the two laughed together before they fell into their usual routine; blasting the radio, dancing badly and singing out of key before changing out of their River Vixens uniforms. They then headed over to the Andrews' house for dinner.

It had been a slightly tense dinner, the source of that tenseness being Fred and Archie, they all sat and ate in relative silence aside from the occasional conversation about how the day was. Fred congratulated the teen girls on their making the school cheerleading squad to which they both smiled brightly and thanked him before going into a tangent of how awesome it was going to be. The patriarch of the Andrews family was relieved the two had their first day go off without a hitch and, like the typical father of teenage girls, was even more relieved to have not heard a peep about either of them having any run ins with horny teenage boys. The three teenagers decided not to tell their father about half of the student body not being able to take their eyes off the duo the entire day.

After the uneventful dinner, Cecilia helped wash the dishes with Archie while Fred and Holly cleared the table and put the leftovers of their Chinese take out food in the fridge. When Fred and Holly had left the room, Cecilia had asked about the awkwardness at dinner and Archie explained the whole situation of having to choose between his music, football and the family business. Cecilia listened attentively as he spoke like she always did and since she didn't have any real advice, she gave him a reassuring smile and told him everything would work out which he appreciated.

Cecilia stuck around the Andrews house for a while as she didn't have anything better to do and needed to make up for lost time over the summer. The family was sat in the living room watching some comedy that wasn't really all that funny but what was were the comments Holly and Cecilia were making about the movie. Within minutes the entire family was laughing loudly and trying to compose themselves, they were able to sit through the whole movie and by that time it was nearing ten o'clock and was quite dark already.

The blonde honorary third Andrews sibling announced her leave to the family, the men of the family trying to convince her to stay the night. Cecilia turned down the offers, she appreciated how much the Andrews family cared about her but even after all these years and knowing they didn't mind she didn't want to put anymore strain on the single parent family. After denying their offer many times they finally relented and allowed her to start her journey home with the bag of leftovers Archie and Holly had put together for her. She hugged everyone and asked the red-haired siblings if they were all meeting at Birch Street to walk to school together in the morning, they both confirmed with the blonde and then she was on her way. Cecilia waved goodbye to the family as she walked while they stood on the porch waving back and watching her until they had to strain their eyes to see her in the dark.

It wasn't a far walk between the Andrews and Kane residences but Cecilia had wished she brought something more than just the jean jacket she had worn to school that day as the night had become incredibly cool. She trudged on however, clutching the bag of still warm Chinese food to her chest for extra warmth and admired how bright the stars were that night. Cecilia had made it half way to her house, currently walking down one of Riverdale's main roads - Birch Street - to get home and the only sound to be heard was the sound of her shoes making contact with the pavement beneath her. Until it was accompanied by another sound, one that was becoming louder as it came closer.

Cecilia stopped walking and turned around to look down the street, she couldn't see anything but she sure could hear whatever was coming her way. The revving of an engine of what had to be some souped up muscle car or something broke through the silence the blonde had once been engulfed in. It was accompanied by loud metal music booming out of the vehicles speakers, it was so loud Cecilia could hear every word being spoken clearly. Could she discern actual lyrics? No, but she could still hear the garbled nonsense clear as day. These noises together should have - and would have - scared anyone from being heard in the middle of the night while on your own, but it was the words she heard next that jolted her body in fear and shock.

"FUCK YOU NORTHSIDERS!" Someone screamed at the top of their lungs as the car finally came into view and the car itself along with it's passengers couldn't have been mistaken as anything other than what they were. Southsider's but not any ordinary southsider's, Southside Serpents. Cecilia couldn't tell you what kind of car they were driving but she could tell that it was an older one and couldn't help but admire it for a split second, it was cobalt black and even had the Serpent's insignia proudly displayed on the hood.

Any sane person would have ran from the crew of what appeared to be teenagers of thrown themselves into the rose bush behind them in an attempt to hide. But given the day she had had - wearing something other than what her parents had laid out for her and contemplating going to a party on the Southside for however brief a period she had - Cecilia would have thought that she was slowly starting to go mad. So there she stood, watching the Serpents speed by doing 80 in a 40, and she expected them to speed by her and not give her tiny stature a second thought. Boy was she wrong.

As it got closer to her, the vehicle slowed down into a cruising speed as it passed her and giving her a chance to examine the people inside the car. There were five of them; four boys all brawny and could easily be comparable to giants at their full height, they were all dark haired but that was about all Cecilia could make out through the windows of the vehicle. That and the driver was covered in colourful tattoo's. The last person was a girl who couldn't have been much older than herself - thinking on it, Cecilia decided they all couldn't be more than a few years older than herself. The girl had tanned skin and long brown hair that was streaked through pink, that way her nose shone told Cecilia her nose was pierced and her hand that was hung out the car window was decorated with dozens of shiny rings.

As the car filled with leather wearing teens cruised past Cecilia the people in the car stared her down and Cecilia stared back. She wasn't sure why she did or what else she should have done but she knew one thing that was for sure, they were intimidating as hell. As they stared Cecilia wondered if they were actually even Serpents, aside from the snake on the hood of the car there was no other sure-fire way of knowing as there were no serpent tattoos in sight. That was what she searched for as she had a staring contest with the teenagers and each time she couldn't find one on one person she found it the slightest bit easier to breath. Until she actually found one.

The boy sitting in the passenger seat of the loudest vehicle in the neighborhood (maybe even the entire Northside), Cecilia choked on air as she noticed the swerving form of a serpent embedded in the skin on his neck with black ink. Looking from the tattoo to the face of the person it had been etched into made Cecilia actually take a step back and take in a large gulp of oxygen. He was staring her down intensely with dark cold eyes and unlike his friends, there was no trace of even the slightest smile on his face. The others had been grinning at Cecilia mischievously and in an almost taunting manor but not him, she couldn't even give a guess as to what could have been running through his head.

The only thing Cecilia could decipher was that he had a great distaste towards the Northside and her as well for that matter.

"Oooh, what have we here?" The boy in the back next to the girl spoke and crawled over the girl, who yelled in protest, to hang himself halfway out the open window. "You a long way from home sweetheart?"

He laughed loudly along with the driver and the other male passenger in the back while the girl was still shouting at him for hanging over her. The boy in the passenger seat however, stayed silent and expressionless. Cecilia was wracked with nerves as the group stared her down and the chilling sound of their laughs didn't make her feel any better.

"Aren't you, Serpent?" Cecilia let the words slip and go tumbling out of her mouth as she didn't mean to say them out loud. Nonetheless she tried to keep her cool but on the inside, she was screaming at herself. _What the hell are you doing Cecilia Marie?!_

"Sassy, I like it." Stated the same boy who had initiated the conversation and grinned at her before winking and laughing hysterically with his friends. The comment made Cecilia's heart beat out of control nervously and she could feel her face heat up in embarrassment.

"Watch yourself northsider," Voiced the southsider in the passenger seat of the vehicle which drew Cecilia's attention. The two stared each other down, both refusing to be the one to back down first. "You'll get your scrawny self hurt talking back like that."

Cecilia snorted loudly at this, tearing her eyes away and losing thee staring contest to roll her eyes. The little voice in her head speaking up again much louder this time, _WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM?!_

"Ya know, that serpent tattoo on your neck doesn't scare me." It definitely did.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," She stated confidently, having successfully swallowed her fear of the group, and crossed her arms across her chest. The Chinese food on the sidewalk having long since forgotten. "I'd like to see you try."

 _How stupid could one girl be?_ Thought Sweet Pea as he glared at the little blonde girl who was ballsy enough to glare back at him with just as much attitude. The seemingly over confident northsider made his blood boil more so than it already had been with his hatred of the Northside, but that comment? That pushed him just a little too far, the Northside's ever present air of superiority over the Southside. He swiftly reached for the door handle and pushed it open in one fluid movement, he was soon placing a large leather boot on the tarmac and stepping out of the car.

"Of course, that would be incredibly stupid though. Basically an act of war and we both know all the man power is backing the mayor and therefore the Northside." Cecilia quickly followed up with her previous comment when she saw the boy begin to exit the vehicle. She was mentally kicking herself in the face for provoking the intimidating teenager, little did she know he couldn't tell that she was being anything but cocky.

Sweet Pea had been out of the vehicle and standing in the street when she was through speaking and stared at her once more. Her denim clad arms were crossed in front of her and a delicate patronizing smile was plastered to her lips as she waited for his response. He didn't catch the way her eyes grew slightly larger when he stood at his full height, she didn't notice the small curl of the corners of his mouth.

"Forget her, one little Northside tart is not worth the trouble." The driver spoke for the first time during the whole encounter and his booming gravely voice broke all of the teenagers - Cecilia included - out of their deadly stare down. The tall teen shot another harsh glare at the blonde before he scoffed at her and got back in the car, slamming the door shut hard enough to make Cecilia flinch. This he fully smirked at as he had finally gotten her confident exterior to crack even if only slightly.

Cecilia cursed herself mentally for flinching, _way to ruin your ten minutes of badassery._ The driver revved his engine and the loud music was blasting through the speakers again while none of the teenagers took their gazes off each other. As the vehicle began to move again, the boy still hanging halfway out the window waved erratically at Cecilia and smiled brightly at her before speaking.

"Good conversation. SEE YA LATER BLONDIE! I'LL BE WAITING FOR YA!" And with that the Serpents sped off, tires screeching and leaving a stunned Cecilia behind in the silence again. She stood in the same place for a couple minutes before even thinking about continuing on her way home, she was replaying her first ever encounter with the Southside Serpents over again in her head. Cecilia had no idea where the sudden lack of fear and the cockiness had come from, where the confidence to confront anyone had come from. And confronting probably the most intimidating teen boy she had ever met who was a Serpent? Did she have a death wish?!

Resuming her walk all she could seem to think about was the whole confrontation from the moment the freaking Serpent-mobile stopped next to her to the moment it drove off, leaving her behind in the dust. Although she was kicking herself over probably having unintentionally put herself on to a Serpent hit list, she was awed and slightly impressed with herself. Impressed with the way she handled the situation and didn't let herself be too intimidated by the group. Impressed that she didn't let them bully her into being scared of them.

It was like she was coming down from a really great trip, you'd think it would be the most agonizing and paranoid portion of the whole experience - and it was to a point - but Cecilia felt unbelievably good. As she turned, stepping on to the stone path leading to her front door, Cecilia thought about Holly's insistence for the two of them to spend the night on the Southside playing pretend. Cecilia was starting to warm to the idea as she thought it over while heading up to her bedroom and looking over her reflection in the mirror, in her casual pair of jeans and a tee shirt, the young blonde smirked at herself. She then thought of what the seemingly friendlier Serpent had said to her before they took their leave.

 _SEE YA LATER BLONDIE!_

Cecilia continued smirking at herself for a few moments longer before she took a shower and got ready for bed, brushing her hair and teeth, washing her face, the whole shebang. She didn't realize how tired the day had actually made her until then as she shuffled to lazily pull an old band tee shirt of her brother's off the hanger. This shirt she only wore when her parents weren't home because they'd have a cow if they knew she kept it after they threw Raymond out, and she liked it as it reminded her of him.

Throwing the fluffy duvet away from her, Cecilia climbed in bed sluggishly and pulled it back over her body all while snuggling into the warmth smiling. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to consume her and for a while it didn't, but when it did she was out like a light. The last thing Cecilia Kane remembered before passing out was a single thought that tumbled through her mind,

 _Yes, you just might see me later._

* * *

 **Cool, awesome, done. Hope ya'll enjoyed it, jenny.s.72 said she would love for Cecilia to interact with the Serpents at some point and maybe get involved with some and I kinda laughed because I already had written this chapter. So I hope you're happy with it and don't you worry, there will be plenty more run ins with the Serpents in the future ;)**

 **Keep reviewing and letting me know what you think cuz I love reading the feedback and ya'll are so sweet! See ya**

 **-Sunny out**


	3. The Encounter (The Sequel)

**GUESS WHOS BACK...**

 **BACK AGAIN...**

 **SUNNYS BACK, TELL A FRIEND!**

 **Fuck yeah Slim Shady.**

 **Hiya! How've ya'll been, I've missed ya! I don't really have much to say at the start of this chapter aside from thank you for the reviews and follows and favourites, I love seeing that stuff. Especially the reviews cuz I really just like to see what ya'll are thinking and you're pretty little user's lol So thanks again for that :D**

 **ON WITH THE SHOW!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Encounter (The Sequel)**

The next morning Cecilia woke up earlier than she normally would to get ready for school, she was excited. She decided to ditch her usual casual wear of jeans and tee shirts for a second consecutive day as she dug through the very last drawer in her dresser as it was where she stashed all the clothes Holly gave to her or let her borrow. Cecilia sat on the floor pulling all the articles of clothing out and laying them on the floor in front of her, trying to put a decent outfit together. After a good twenty minutes of digging through piles of fabric and thinking hard about what would go with what best, Cecilia found the perfect outfit.

Grabbing the bundle of clothes, Cecilia returned to her room to change and admire her choice in the reflective surface of her mirror. It was more conservative than what she had worn the previous day but still went against what her parents would have wanted her to wear out in public. She smiled at her reflection as she adjusted the denim skirt that hugged her hips and flowed out around her before ending at mid knee. It was the shortest thing she had ever worn by a long shot. Cecilia opted for a long sleeved black scoop neck bodysuit, the whole outfit being the complete opposite of what she had worn the day before.

Grabbing her bookbag and the same black ankle boots she wore on the first day, Cecilia ran downstairs to the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal. She was excited to get to school so she scarfed down the contents of the bowl and threw some mascara on in the mirror-key-hanger fixture next to the front door. Then, the blonde was on her way to meet the Andrews siblings at their regular meeting place.

It wasn't very long until Archie and Holly Andrews came into view as they waited for one of their closest friends, and boy were they shocked. The darastic shange of attitude and choice of dress was shocking but what was even more shocking was how carefree she seemed. The other day she had been her usual happy self but her usual happy self was also very reserved 24/7 but as she walked down Birch Street to meet with Archie and Holly she seemed to glow like the sun on a hot summer day. She was smiling brightly and had an uncharacteristic bounce in her step as she neared the two and there was a relaxed air about her, her usual reservations that kept her from being overly emotional in any way having long since been forgotten.

"Hey guys!" Cecilia cheered as she finally approached the two who were slightly stunned, Holly being the first to snap out of her trance.

"Hey there Ce, feeling good this morning?" The ginger girl asked Cecilia while slowly letting a large grin grow on her face.

"Feeling wonderful, Hol." She replied, mirroring the grin she had been given while linking her arm through Holly's and pulling her along for once. Archie sped up his walking pace as he too snapped out of his trance to fall in step with the two girls as they made their way to school.

"I cant tell, you put that together all by yourself? I'm so proud of my baby!" Holly praised Cecilia as she pulled her in for a tight one-armed embrace while Archie smiled upon the interaction. Cecilia returned the embrace and grinned proudly at her accomplishment.

"So, you've finally decided to dress yourself. Getting risky are we?" Archie teased the blonde girl as he walked along her left side. Cecilia turned to him with a thoughtful look and was quiet before deciding to speak again.

"I guess you could say I am," She spoke while sporting a small smile. "I'm in high school now and I can't let my parents bully me my entire life. This is how I choose to rebel." Cecilia finished as she nodded her head and genuinely smiled at her two favourite people.

"You're not going to say that to them though, right?" Archie asked her worriedly, as far as he was concerned the Kane's were evil and if Cecilia was going to do anything that could potentially put herself in danger he would be quick to shut it down. Just to protect his young blonde haired friend, even if it had the potential to end with her hating him for it he would do it to make sure she didn't get hurt.

"Hell no, I can be a little off-kilter sometimes but I'm not suicidal. No, we will be keeping this to ourselves." Cecilia exclaimed while stifling a giggle and pushing Archie away from her.

"So a sort of silent protest?" Holly questioned her best friend, to which the blonde nodded enthusiastically still continuing to push the oldest of the group away from her. Holly laughed loudly as a passing car honked it's horn at the teen boy while he tried to dive out of the street as if he was going to get hit by it which he wasn't, he wasn't anywhere close to the moving pile of metal actually.

"Oh, did someone not get enough beauty sleep last night?" Cecilia jokingly questioned Archie as he opened his mouth wide to let a yawn escape him. He glared in faux annoyance at the girl while rubbing his hand over his eyes, rubbing them hard to attempt to rid himself of the exhaustion.

"You're hilarious, no, I was up late writing some songs. I tried to go to sleep eventually and some idiots revving their engine and blasting their hardcore rock music while they drove all around town. Assholes," Archie complained to the girl, a confused look came across the golden-haired girls face but was replaced by a thoughtful one not moments later. Revving engine? Loud rock music? It sounded a hell of a lot like the Serpents she ran into the other night but it couldn't be. Could it?

"I didn't hear anything." Holly informed the two while smiling patroonizingly to her older brother at his lack of sleep, he ignored her. One thing to know about Holly Andrews, the girl could sleep through anything and everything - in fact - when her parents would argue loudly with one another in the years before the divorcee, Holly would go to sleep. No matter the time of day, Holly would force herself to fall asleep because that way she wouldn't have to hear it and she knew no matter how loud her parents got, they'd have a difficult time trying to wake her.

"Did you see who it was? What the car looked like maybe?" Cecilia asked the boy she considered to be her second brother curiously.

"Nah, I don't think they ever even drove down our road but they kept me up like all night. You hear it too?" Archie responded as he turned to Cecilia who nodded her head slightly, contemplating her answer.

"Something like that." She told the Andrews siblings who both stopped walking to give the girl a look. Cecilia hadn't even realized they weren't walking with her anymore until Holly spoke up.

"What does that mean?" Cecilia spun around slowly with a mildly stunned look. Was telling the two of them a good idea? Even if it wasn't, could she _really_ keep a secret from her favourite people? Nope.

"Well, I may or may not have seen said car," She started while she visibly started reverting back to her usual reserved and timid self. "And I may or may not have spoken with the people in the car, who may or may not have been from the Southside."

"What." Holly and Archie stated in unison as they stared at Cecilia, who smiled shyly. Before the two could panic and ask her for more details, Cecilia quickly covered by telling them her lame excuse of the group just asking her for directions. Archie seemed to believe her lie but Holly on the other hand wasn't so easily fooled by her best friend. No matter how much Archie like to think the two of them couldn't lie without him knowing, they got away with a lot when it came to pulling the wool over his eyes.

The trio split up when they made it through the doors of Riverdale High, Archie headed to have a quick chat with and Holly and Cecilia proceeded to their lockers. The entire walk to the school Cecilia had been buzzing with excitement and anticipation, waiting for Archie to finally leave so she could speak to Holly in private. The two stopped off at Cecilia's locker, chatting aimlessly, before heading off to Holly's and the entire time the ginger girl could tell her friend was about to either explode or start screaming.

"You good there, Jitters?" Holly asked while chuckling and rolling in her locker combination into the lock keeping the metal door closed. Cecilia couldn't keep the grin from rising back onto her face and when her friend raised an eyebrow at her she quietly squealed and jumped around on the spot.

"Okay, okay, okay. So, remember the other night when you tried to convince me to go to a party on the Southside and I totally panicked and clammed up?" She asked as all of the words spilled out of her mouth quicker than her brain could process them. Holly stood in front of her staring with wide eyes at the speed of her words, it took her a second to actually understand what the blonde had said to her but when she did she just nodded.

"Well I'm not panicked and not clamming up anymore so I say let's do it." Cecilia stated proudly and Holly choked on her own saliva at the proposition. The redhaired girl looked up at her blonde friend in shock and awe, almost like she had spontaneously grown a second head, until it melted into a slowly growing grin.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Dead serious."

The two girls startled everyone in their vicinity as they started jumping around, hugging each other and just barely screaming in excitement. Holly was shocked her closest friend was so suddenly bringing up the suggestion so soon after she shot it down, but she was beyond proud of the girl making all of the decision's she had in the past twenty-four hours. Cecilia could feel that same rush of excitement she had felt the day before when she first stepped foot in Riverdale High in the pit of her stomach.

Cecilia and Holly spent the rest of their day as they had the first day of school, paying little to no attention to what wwas being taught or said by the teachers and planning their epic journey to the wild side. At lunch Holly called up her friend Joaquin from the Southside to find out if anything interesting or worthwhile was going on over on that side of town anytime soon. He informed her that there indeed was, a house party in the central part of town that almost everyone was going too and he assured the two girls that it would the easiest place to blend in. No one would ever know they had spent the night partying with a couple of northsider's.

"The central part of the Southside. Isn't that Serpent territory?" Cecilia questioned Joaquin through Holly's phone as it was held between the friend's heads, they didn't want to risk anyone hearing their conversation by putting the call on speaker.

"It is, will that be a problem?" He inquired through the phone. There was a pause as the two girls shared a look, flashed of her confrontation with the teen Serpents the night before flitted through Cecilia's mind.

It gave her reason for pause, the people from the car could be at the party and maybe even recognize her thus turning the night into a disater. Then she was reminded of what Joaquin had said about everyone going to the party, she would be practically invisible and that's if she even did run into any of them. The odd's of that sounded very unlikely from what they had been told, Cecilia also remembered the other night when she hadn't allowed herself to be pushed around by them. She had obviously been a northsider that night and she handled herself just fine so she could do the same at a party and this time they'd be thinking she was one of their own.

"Of course not. Text us time and place." She responded to the older boy with a large toothy smile on her face while Holly squealed and smacked Cecilia's arm repeatedly in bliss.

At the end of the day the girls walked to Cecilia's house - as per usual - to start putting together what Holly called _'Southside appropriate'_ outfits for the both of them without being worried about their plan being found out by a nosy parent or overprotective brother. They had also planned on doing some homework but that was more of an after thought.

This task had to be abandoned and resumed at the Andrews household however, seeing as Cecilia didn't really own anything she would deem acceptable to wear on the other side of the tracks. Although the two didn't want to work on their side project at the home they were more likely to be found out and grounded at, they didn't have much of a choice. They would have to be very cautious and very meticulous in each and every step they took and not only in the house, but until the party came to pass.

As soon as they arrived at Holly's the two shouted hello to Archie and Fred as they ran upstairs to lock themselves in the redhead's bedroom. In order to drown out their voices they turned the radio on and up loud enough that no one beyond the room could hear what they were saying and the two resumed the search for the perfect outfits. It wasn't too long since they had continued their search when Holly's phone finally buzzed with a message from Joaquin, stating time and place of the party as well as when he'd be picking the two up and where.

 _ **Joaquin Phoenix (DeSantos):**_

 _ **Partys 215 fox ridge road on friday, doesnt have set start time.**_

 ** _Picking you up 9, meet me the divide._**

"Isn't the semi-formal on Friday?" Cecilia questioned Holly as they sat on her bed, the two looked at each other with wide eyes in realization. They would have to choose between a Northside semi-formal and a Southside house party.

The two sat in silence as they weighed their options, completely abandoning their mission to find party outfits. It was their first high school semi-formal, did they really want to miss it? And not even that, if they didn't go it was going to be hard to explain to people why they weren't there or weren't going. People like Archie and Betty would pester them about it, thinking there was something wrong with the dynamic duo for not wanting to go. The girls were at a crossroads at this point they had less than two days to decide.

Surprisingly enough, Holly was the one who wanted to go to the dance and Cecilia was the one who was advocating for the Southside party.

"There'll be more dances, we can miss just this one, can't we?" Cecilia questioned Holly from where she was laying on the floor. Holly was perched on her bed with a book in her lap, using it as a makeshift desk to write on, as she was writing a pros and cons list of going to the party and not the dance.

"You say that but there will also be plenty more Southside parties." Holly informed her unusually eager friend while giggling at the enthusiasm. Cecilia then pushed herself off the floor and leaned back on her forearms to get a look at Holly.

"This is true, but when will the next time both of my parent's leave town coincide with one of these parties? When will we ever get such a perfect circumstance laid out for us like on a sliver platter?!" She exclaimed as she got up off the floor and sat back down on the Andrews girl's bed across from her. Holly raised a confused eyebrow at her good friend and gestured for her to elaborate.

"Think about it like this, it's the perfect storm. No older brother to stick his nose in our business, parent thinking we're headed to the dance? We tell Fred we're going to the dance and then crashing at my house and so no one gets suspicious, we tell Archie we're just gonna spend the night at my house hanging out. We can even give him the excuse that no one asked us. No one will ever know." By the end of her little speech, Cecilia could see the wheels turning in her friend's head and knew that she had convinced her. Holly looked up from the piece of paper in her lap and smiled at her friend before sighing overdramatically.

"Well then, I guess we've decided."

"What is this I hear of the two of you not coming to the semi-formal?" Veronica challenged the two freshman as she stormed into River Vixen practice with Betty trailing behind her, she opted to start stretching with Cecilia and Holly on the gymnasium floor. The duo looked up at the new girl with surprised expressions at her outburst, they were not expecting that reaction. It was the day before the dance and they had both been giddy about the party since they had decided to go, they had informed Fred that they would be getting ready at Cecilia's before walking over to the school. He - being the sweet man he was - offered to pick the girls up and drive them instead but they of course turned him down.

"Who told you?" Cecilia queried and Betty snorted unceremoniously, drawing all gazes to herself.

"Is that a serious question?" She responded to the looks she was being given and went back to her stretching. Holly and Cecilia shared a look and then they both knew who was the one with the loose lips. Archie.

"V, we weren't asked by anyone an - " Holly started to explain but was cut off by her new outspoken friend.

"What does that matter, Hollywood? Are you kidding me, the two of you could walk into the dance and have half the male population following your every beck and call in seconds. And never mind that, you don't need a date to go to a dance." She argued with the girl as she crossed her arms and cocked out her hip for added effect.

"Ronnie, we know we don't need dates and that's not even half the reason we're not going." Cecilia butted in to try and take some of the heat off of Holly. Veronica's gaze turned to the younger blonde girl, she raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side at her statement.

"Oh really, then what's the reason. Have somewhere better to be perhaps?" Veronica stared expectantly at the two girls whose jaws had dropped in shock at her question. Was Veronica Lodge on to them?

"We got lots of homework and a project in science and the project's due on Tuesday. It's only the first week of school I know but believe it or not, Holly's already falling behind." Cecilia rambled on while not breaking eye contact with the older brunette and trying to seem calm and disappointed.

"Hey!" Holly exclaimed looking over at her friend with her mouth wide again. Betty watched the entire exchange with a gleam of humor in her eyes, she knew Veronica wasn't actually mad. Veronica was disappointed because she wanted to spend more time with her new friends outside of an educational setting. She also found it slightly off that the two were passing on the dance as - from what she had heard - it didn't sound like them. After giving the two girls a long hard look, Veronica sighed loudly and in frustration before she sat herself on the floor to start stretching with the other three girls.

"Fine. Fine! Bail on the dance, but this is your only get out of jail free card. This is a warning you two!" The older exclaimed as she playfully glared at the younger girls who laughed out of relief that she had finally dropped the subject. Cheryl then burst through the gymnasium doors, hollering at her squad to get into position along with some colourful insults. As everyone dispersed to do exactly as they were told, Betty turned to her friends with furrowed eyebrows.

"Are you really failing science, Holly? It's not even the end of the first week." Cecilia tried to smother her giggles with her hand as Holly glared at the younger blonde for the horrible lie she made up on the spot. Holly then turned to Betty, sighing before nodding her head disappointedly to which Betty chuckled and patted the younger ginger on the shoulder. Betty offered to help Holly study and better understand the material - as she had done many a time for the girl's older brother - before she jogged over to her spot in the formation.

Holly and Cecilia shared a look as the older blonde left them to get into their own places in the formation, they were across from each other. Holly was glaring at her best friend for making her the lie but all Cecilia did was shrug sheepishly and smiled before mouthing something to her friend right as the routine music boomed out of the gym speakers.

 _'Sorry about that.'_

"Bye dad! We're leaving now!" Holly yelled as Cecilia and her tried to make a break for it without issue or being stopped or questioned.

"Yeah bye Fred!" Cecilia shouted as Holly tried to push her out of the house but not quick enough as Fred stopped them before they could leave.

"You two be careful tonight." He told the girls as he stood next to the staircase with a beer in hand and Vegas sitting at his feet. Both girls froze in fear and their eyes grew at his advice, they then turned back to the older man slowly.

"What?" They both stuttered out, thinking he had found them out and was putting a stop to it.

"Be careful, I know it's hard to believe but I was once in high school and I know about the spiked punch trick. Hell, I invented it." Fred explained to his girls as relief flooded their features and they nervously giggled.

"Sure thing dad, don't you worry. We'll take care of each other and stay away from the punch." Holly informed her father and gave him a hug before pulling away and shutting the front door behind her as Cecilia waved to her father figure. The two girls walked down the porch and to the garage to retrieve their bikes without saying a word to one another, it was silent between the two the entire bike ride to Cecilia's as well. In fact, they didn't speak a single word until they made it to the safety of Cecilia's bedroom in her empty house. There the two girls set their things down on the bed and the stared at each other for a couple seconds, until they couldn't hold in the gut wrenching cackles ripping away at their insides. The whole situation back at the Andrews house had made them so nervous they were now hysterical, it took them a good five minutes to calm themselves down once again.

"I seriously thought he had us there for a minute!" Holly exclaimed as she wiped tears off her cheeks and Cecilia nodded at her breathlessly as she held a hand to her chest. After collecting themselves the two took turns showering and then started on getting ready for the party, Cecilia allowed Holly to have full artistic control of her appearance. To say the ginger was excited was an understatement as Cecilia never allowed her to touch her face with makeup.

Holly started on Cecilia, knowing it would take longer to get her ready than herself and it was already eight o'clock so she had to work quick. Hair was the first project she decided to tackle, _what to do what to do,_ she thought as she stared at her friend in the mirror. They wanted to look as different as they could from their Northside-selves at this party, seeing as they'd have a problem on their hands if someone somehow found out. So Holly turned them into opposites of themselves.

She took a flat iron to Cecilia's rich golden blonde hair, it had taken a huge chunk of time to do so, but by the end it looked lighter than normal. Holly then moved onto makeup, not wanting to go too crazy she went with smoking out Cecilia's eyeliner a hell of a lot and gave her a nice wing with liquid liner over top. The real kicker though was the bright blood red lipstick Holly had put on the lips of a surprisingly willing Cecilia and the redhead couldn't believe her friend never even attempted wearing it before, it was made for the girl goddamn it!

When she was finally satisfied with her work, Holly sent her reinvented friend to change so she could quickly transform herself as it was now nearing nine and the Divide - the line dividing the Northside from the Southside - was a lot more than a hop, skip and jump away. Cecilia headed to her closet to find her outfit that she had hung up the other day out of excitement for the party, another outfit Holly had helped her pick but definitely more her speed. Cecilia slipped on the same shredded up black jeans she had worn on the first day of school followed by a skin tight white and black tripped off the shoulder top. Delicate 3-inch black strapy sandal heels that made the blonde glad she had done her toes the other day followed after along with a pair of large gold hoops Holly had laid out for her.

Stepping out of her closet, Cecilia was adjusting her shirt due to her discomfort of it being so small and close to her body, she heard a sharp slapping sound in front of her that made her jump. Finding it to only be Holly standing at her mirror grinning and clapping enthusiastically at her entrance, she even started cheering.

"Damn Cece, back at it again with the rockin' bod!" The ginger girl cheered as she grinned at her embarrassed, red faced, smiling friend. Cecilia rolled her eyes at the comment and decided to ignore it as she moved to stand next to Holly in the view of the mirror, admiring the work Holly had done to both of them.

Where Holly's hair was usually straight, it now fell in precise curls around her face and shoulders, her makeup was simple - perfectly winged eyeliner, chiseled by bronzer, and a deep purple lip to make it all stand out - as it was all she had time for. Even given that was all she had time for, she was very happy with the outcome. Her body was clad in all black everything; black fishnets under a pair of high wasted black shorts with a black tank top that showed a dangerous amount of cleavage and a pair of leather moto boots.

"You look amazing Hol!" Cecilia informed her ginger best friend with a large grin, Holly smirked at the blonde in response as she continued to stare at the two of them in the large mirror.

"I do, don't I?" She asked in a joking manner that made Cecilia snort and shake her head, Holly then stepped away from the mirror to retrieve her phone from her friend's bed. Checking the time her eyes grew large, it was nine o'clock on the dot and Joaquin was sure to be waiting for them at the Divide. Rushing to grab some cash from her wallet, just in case, and stuffing it in her bra, Holly then ran over to Cecilia, grabbing her arm and telling her they had to get going as she pulled her to the door.

"Wait! Wait, I want us to do something first." Cecilia interrupted and reversed the roles, now pulling Holly by the arm back to the mirror.

"Cece, we gotta go. Joaquin's gonna give us hell when we get there." Holly complained to her friend, unsure of what the delay was until Cecilia pulled her phone from her back pocket and held it up grinning.

"Let's get a picture please! To remember this, I want to remember this night." Cecilia informed her befuddled friend with a fond smile on her face. Holly could tell just how much something as small as a picture of the two of them all decked out meant to her so, she rolled her eyes playfully and posed next to Cecilia in the mirror. The girls held each other close and allowed wide grins to swallow their faces for the pictures Cecilia took in rapid succession, wanting more than one to allow her to relive the night at some point in the future.

Right after the picture was taken, Cecilia too grabbed some cash and stuffed it into the top of her shirt before the two ran outside and hopped on their bikes. They peddled as fast as they could in their attire as they were hoping to not have made Joaquin wait to long for them. They also hoped none of their neighbours would witness the two leaving the house dressed the way they were, that would raise some questions with both girl's parents.

They arrived at the Divide almost twenty minutes later and could see an older model black car parked just beyond the train tracks waiting for them. There was a figure leaning on the hood of the car, seeming to be looking down at his phone, who was made visible by the headlights of the vehicle underneath him. As Holly and Cecilia got closer to the car and the figure, the boy turned his head to look at the two girls approaching him, dragging their bicycles along.

"Joaquin!" Holly cheered before she hid her bicycle in a nearby bush and ran over to the obviously older boy, leaving her now frozen best friend behind to follow her lead. Holly threw herself into Joaquin's arms dramatically and hugged him hoping to win some brownie points and that he wasn't mad about their tardiness. The older brown-haired Serpent sighed but nonetheless hugged the girl back before setting her down and giving her a raised eyebrow and unimpressed look, neither noticing Cecilia was still frozen in place ad staring at them wide eyed.

"You're late." He simply stated, making Holly slightly cringe.

"Yeah, sorry about that. This kind of perfection takes time." She responded, recovering from her cringe, smirking up at her friend who smiled sarcastically back as he muttered _'I'm sure it does'_. "Oh! Joaquin, this is my best friend - nay, my sister from another mister - Cece. Cece, this stud muffin is our meal card to a fantastic night. Joaquin DeSantos."

Holly and Joaquin had been making weird faces at each other as she introduced her two friends but when no response was heard, the two turned to face the blonde girl who they realized looked like she'd seen a ghost. Holly became worried for her female friend so much so that she rushed to her side, grabbing her arms to stabilize her in case she was to fall. She frantically asked Cecilia what was wrong but she wouldn't answer. Cecilia instead pointed at something in front of hr and when Holly turned around, the only person that was there was Joaquin and so this only confused her more.

"Ce? What's wrong, what's going on?" Holly prodded as gently as she could but she was kind of scared for her blonde friend at the moment, she didn't know what the hell was going on with her and that was weird. The two girls knew everything about each other; every tell, every allergy, every trigger, every oddly shaped mole, every dark secret the other had they shared with one another. It didn't make any sense until Joaquin shed some light on the fact of the matter.

"Aren't you that blonde from the other night? On Birch Street?"

* * *

 **Oooooooooooooooooooooh**

 **That happened. Hope ya'll enjoyed and please review and follow and favourite...especially review because I like reading them. And that way I can actually know what you guys are thinking.**

 **-Sunny out**


	4. The Party & The Final Encounter Part One

**HOPE EVERYONE HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**

 **Disclaimer (cuz I think I should probably start doing this at the beginning of my chapters just in case): I do not own Riverdale or any of it's characters or plots, I only own Cecilia "Cece" Kane, her family, Holly Andrews, any other original characters that should pop up and their individual story lines and/or plots. Thanks :)**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: The Party & The Final Encounter Part One**

 _"Aren't you that blonde from the other night? On Birch Street?"_

Holly turned to her Serpent friend in confussion when the words left his mouth, Joaquin was looking at Cecilia with a slightly shocked expression. Where he was shocked that the blonde girl that stood in front of him, dressed to the Southside nines, was the same blonde that had pushed Sweet Pea's buttons the way she had that night. It really is a small world.

"I uh, I-I am. You were - were in the car... the Serpent-mobile." Cecilia stuttered out as she felt her heart rate speed up considerably and she begin to sweat.

"The Serpent-mobile? That's what you're calling it!" Joaquin said with humor and a smile as he tried to quiet his laughter. Holly was watching the interaction in awe as she realized a lot more had happened when her friend had her run in with the southsider's tearing up the streets of the Northside at the beginning of the week.

"So, the car is yours?" Cecilia questioned warily, truthfully she thought the vehicle was gorgeous. Wasn't a big fan of the giant snake splayed across the hood but there was no arguing that it was a nice-looking car.

"No, it's Mustang's. He's letting me borrow it for the night," The older teen answered the intriguing blonde as she stared at it. "Let's just hope he doesn't find out who I picked up in it."

"Do southsider's really hate northsider's _that_ much?" The blonde queried of the boy curiously, wondering if the hate was actually real or just a story her parents would tell her as a child to ensure she'd never dare even dream of crossing the Divide. Nothing more than an urban legend they thought up to keep her away from the other side of town.

"Some do, and some don't. It really depends on who you're talking too. Can you really blame us though? When we're the ones getting blamed for all of the Northside's misfortune's." He let the flippant question hang in the air between the three as he turned from the girls and headed to the driver's side of the car. Cecilia and Holly stayed put for a few seconds before they followed Joaquin's lead and slid into the black-leather back seat, they started to drive away from the Divide in silence but that silence was broken by a very confused Holly.

"What the hell just happened?" Joaquin and Cecilia gave their friend a confused look as they weren't sure what she was talking about but she just stared back. "How the hell do you two already know each other? Were there any details that you left out about those southsider's you ran into the other night Ce?"

Joaquin chuckled at the two in the back seat as Holly stared her best friend down with a single perfect auburn eyebrow raised and head cocked to the side. Cecilia gave a light nervous chuckle as she scratched the back of her neck lightly and avoided eye contact for some time, eventually looking up to give Holly a sheepish smile. Holly sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Maybe a few details, like the southsider's inside were Serpents as far as I could tell and the giant snake painted on the front." The blonde told her friend as she turned her body slightly to look at her while she talked. From the driver's seat Joaquin watched the two girls with a smile on his face and a chuckle every here and now, Holly had always told him about her best friend and how close they were. He could no longer tease her about not having any actual friend's because the two seemed closer and better friend's than most of his own that he had known since infantcy.

"So, they really asked you for directions?" Holly asked perplexed at the thought as the scenario unfolded in her mind, she then leant over the front console of the car to look at Joaquin and point at him. "Did you guys really ask her for directions?"

"Okay, okay. That was a detail that was also left out." Cecilia replied to her friend as she laughed and grabbed Holly's arm, pulling her back into the back seat with her. Holly glared at the blonde next to her slightly before she jumped back up into a sitting position, grabbing Cecilia's arms in her danity polished hands.

"Well then, what the hell actually happened the other night?!" The redhead shrieked at her friend with wide eyes and slightly shaking her. Cecilia was about to answer Holly - spilling all the juicy details of quite possibly her first almost near-death experience - when she was interrupted by a laughing Joaquin.

"I'll tell you exactly what happened, your girl was about seconds away from being turned into Northside roadkill!" He exclaimed as he smacked the steering wheel with a huge humorous smile on his face, until he saw that the two girls sitting in the car with him looked horrified. Joaquin's smile slowly fell from his lips and he cleared his throat before going back to paying attention to the road.

"WHAT?! What the hell Joaquin!" Holly shrieked at her friend driving while she reached over and smacked him on the head, to which he flinched and muttered 'ow'. The ginger was in panic-mode at the thought of her best friend having possibly almost been jumped by another friend of hers and his gang of Southside Serpents. Cecilia sighed loudly and ran a hand threw her pin straight hair before she placed it on Holly's shoulder to get her attention and calm her down.

"Holly, it's fine. I'm fine, nothing happened." She informed the girl who turned to look at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah H, she handled herself pretty well. Even got SP to back down, which trust me, is not an easy task." The brown-haired Serpent's comment made the two girls in the car turn to look at him in the rear view mirror with their eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Wait, you mean Goliath?" Cecilia questioned Joaquin - who nodded - while Holly sat next to her quietly. "Was he really planning on hurting me? The way he backed off made it seem like his bark was worse than his bite."

"Believe me when I tell you, it's definetly not. You shocked him, he wasn't expecting some tiny little innocent looking northsider to fight back." Joaquin informed the younger girl and seeing the thoughtful alarmed expression on her face, he turned his head to meet her gaze in the rear view mirror of the newly dubbed _'Serpent-mobile'_. He beamed back at both of the girls - Cecilia more so - and flashed them a devilish smile.

"I may just have to keep you around, get you to knock him down a few pegs." Cecilia let out a single laugh at the statement while she flashed the older boy a smile of gratitude but quickly retreated into the depths of her mind. She let the stand off between herself and the antagonistic and seemingly ill-tempered Serpent boy replay piece by piece in her head, growing increasingly confused on why he didn't cause her any bodily harm. From what Joaquin told her, it seemed to have been something he took pleasure in and he obviously had a bone to pick with the Northside so why did he just let her go scott-free?

Holly just sat beside the blonde, stunned that what she had just been told was something her demure little Cece had done. After a couple seconds she shook it off and smiled boastfully at her Serpent friend driving, as if she was the parent of a first place athlete. She was more proud of the Kane girl than worried about her after hearing about the confrontation, knowing the girl was a lot tougher than most would think.

The rest of the car ride - which was less than three minutes - Cecilia spent thinking not only about the boy Joaquin had called SP but the other's she had spoken to the night of the encounter as well. Wondering once again if she'd run into them at this party they were headed too and if she did, would they recognize her like Joaquin had? That thought alone both scared and excited Cecilia, scared her for obvious reasons being the well known feud between the two factions (and seemingly now the feud between herself and the confrontational teenager). Excited her because apparently the thought of taking risks and possible danger gave her a rush like no other, it was a rush she enjoyed like no other. One she craved.

Joaquin parked the vehicle by the curb outside of 215 Fox Ridge Road and the three exited as they looked upon the party venue. It was on the small side but still was the standard size for a good ole textbook defintion nuclear family, there were kids everywhere and the new comer's assumed they were all outside because the interior of the home was at full capacity. However, Cecilia noticed how none of them seemed to mind or be disgruntled about it as the music was blasting loud enough they could hear it and they had even built themselves a fire. Dressed in lots of leather with many studs to follow, they all had drinks in hand and were laughing hysterically at loud volumes with one another, around the afforementioned fire and some huddled around a couple of gleaming motorcycles.

It was nothing new to Holly, she'd been to a small handful of partied on the Southside before she left for Chicago for the summer but when she turned to look at Cecilia she saw the oversized smile on her face. The blonde turned to her best friend - still grinning in excitement - to see the redhead was smiling back at her, with a glint of pride in her eyes. Joaquin smiled and rolled his eyes at the two girls who had grown on him very quickly in a very small amount of time, he broke up their little moment by stepping between them and putting his arms around both of their shoulders.

"Are we ready ladies?" He asked with a cocky grin on his lips. Both girls looked at their newest friend and then bent forward slightly to look at each other and scoff, they then pushed Joaquin's arms off of them and headed up to the house as they linked their arms. Joaquin stood in place for a brief moment, staring at the two before he laughed and shook his head then jogging to catch up with them.

Holly, Joaquin and Cecilia were able to elbow their way into the house for drinks easier than initally suspected. It was packed in the house but it could still comfortably give refuge from the cool night time air to a vast majority of the people standing around outside, Cecilia found their choice to be outside to be odd. She followed behind Holly - who followed behind Joaquin - to where the drinks were located in the kitchen of the house and that seemed to be the busiest place in the house.

Kids were stumbling around and laughing into each other's faces obnoxiously as they were obviously drunk off their asses. Within her eye range, was a group of older teenage boys sitting at a dinning room table in the other room playing what seemed to be some sort of game of poker or cards with one another. Cecilia could clearly see the pile of cash building in the center of the table as the minutes ticked by but she was snapped out of her observation prematurely by Holly tugging her arm. Joaquin handed Holly two glass bottles of beer out of the fridge before turning back to grab himself one as Holly turned to hand one to a hesitant Cecilia.

She'd never drank before, well she'd had a glass of wine or champagne once or twice at a few town functions she was forced to attend but only because Cheryl had snuck it for her while her parent weren't watching. But never had she had beer. Looking down at the amber bottle, Cecilia attempted to twist off the cap to take a sip but she struggled with it quite a bit and it wasn't until the bottle was taken from her by Joaquin and promptly opened with the proper tool that she understood where she had gone wrong. He grinned tauntingly at the young blonde as he handed her drink back, her cheeks blushed red in embarrassment and she thanked him without making eye contact before gazing at the cool bottle held in between her hands.

Holly was encouraging her to take a little drink while Joaquin stood behind her and sipped casually on his own drink as he looked around for people he knew. Cecilia felt her heart beating in her chest again as she slowly lifted the bottle to her lips and let the cold golden liquid spill down her esophagus. As soon as she had processed the taste of the liquid, Cecilia's face soured and she grimaced while removing the bottle from her lips hastily. Holly and Joaquin laughed at the blonde's disgusted expression as Cecilia sputtered and coughed slightly, she glared playfully at her two companions before starting to laugh along with them.

While Joaquin had noticed a few familiar faces sitting at the cards table in the next room, Holy was beginning to drag Cecilia to the makeshift dance floor in the living room next to the kitchen. Before they could bolt though, Joaquin made it clear to the duo that they were to find him if they needed anything or if they got themselves into a bad situation. They nodded in understanding at their older friend and the three of them exited the kitchen through a door to the left of the one they had entered, passing the card table as they broke off and the girls headed to the dance floor.

At first Cecilia wasn't very comfortable with the whole notion of dancing in a crowded room with strangers so she just swayed around beside Holly as the girl went all out. Not knowing what else to do, Cecilia decided to sip on her drink as she did her swaying and even given the fact she thought the bitter taste revolting she found it to become more tolerable - maybe even enjoyable - as the time passed. As the time continued to pass Cecilia also found a feeling of calm numbness settle over her body and her mind, her mind that was usually swimming with thoughts of worry was now quiet. She wasn't completely sure how she felt about the feeling but she thought she could definitly grow to enjoy it.

Holly knew from just one glance at her once reserved best friend - who had now joined Holly in actually dancing around to the music - was on her way to becoming completely plastered. It made giggles bubble up in her throat and fall from her lips as the two danced together enthusiastically and quite provocatively. Holly was holding the alcohol way better than Cecilia as this was not the redhead's first rodeo but she felt it enough that she was buzzed and having a good time.

The choice of music surprised Cecilia, they played a fair amount of pop songs that she knew, she had expected some sort of heavy metal or rock or something along those lines and there was. It just was split up by the few songs Cecilia found herself singing and rotating her hips to. Although her thoughts had been silenced for the most part, one was able to push it's way through to the forefront - _my parents are gonna kill me._ Cecilia became angry at this, it always seemed to come back to her parents and her not wanting to be punished by them but tonight she wouldn't allow herself to be bothered to care about any of her parent's problems. So, she took a bigger swig from the beer bottle and continued to dance, it wasn't long before Cecilia felt a warm sensation drill itself into the back of her head like a laser.

Coming to the realization of the feeling on her, Cecilia looked up to Holly (who was dancing in front of her) and saw that her redheaded friend was grinning at the girl excitedly. The blonde furrowed her eyebrows as she smiled, looking over her exposed shoulder Cecilia could see the cards table had gained more players and spectators. A great many - if not all - of both players and spectators were Serpents. Not much seemed out of the ordinary, the back of Joaquin's head could be seen by her and she assumed he was having a good time as he had himself a nice little pile of cash that was steadily growing. Keeping his word to keep the two as safe as he could, he would glance up at the almost inebriated dancing northsider's every here and there and when Cecilia looked over the two locked eyes before the blonde smirked playfully in his direction from over her shoulder.

What really caught the girls attention was two of her new friend's companions at the card table, both Serpents, both good looking and both staring right at her. Watching her gyrate and twist her body to the sound of the music pumping through the speakers and vibrating the whole house, they stared intensely at the blonde girl in the tight-fitting clothes. Cecilia had been acting like she hadn't been paying the looks any attention until she spun herself around as she danced to make eye contact, letting both boys know she knew they were watching.

The petite blonde admired the two teenagers as she danced, they could be brothers for all she knew. They didn't look akin enough to be siblings but they were both sporting dark hair and even darker eyes, but where one of the boy's eyes seemed to be glowing with excitement and admiration the other's were the opposite. They flashed with amusement and hunger for a brief moment which startled the slightly intoxicated Cecilia as she stared into them, captivating her. She had to force herself to take her eyes away from the second Serpent's just so she was able to see the room again as previously it felt like his eyes were the only thing in sight. Taking a better look at the her two admirers, Cecilia almost groaned out loud in annoyance.

They had been in the Serpent-mobile that night at the beginning of the week as well, as a matter of fact they had been the only two to actually speak words directed to Cecilia. The first boy she could now see as the friendlier one who hung himself out the car window, pissing off the girl in the car by leaning over her and the second one was the scary one who Cecilia had exchanged heated words with. She hated to admit it but they were both incredibly attractive and had the classic _'tall, dark and handsome'_ thing going for them, and damn did they do it well.

Cecilia watched as the friendly Serpent spoke to someone at the table with a sly smile, took her a second to realize he was talking to Joaquin. She watched the exchange happen and a look of shock crossed the friendly Serpent's face before he looked over Joaquin's shoulder and made eye contact with her once again, to which she couldn't help but grin seductively. Cecilia never considered herself to be 'sexy' or 'seductive' ever but she was liking the way it made her feel confident and powerful so she thought to herself, _why not have some fun with it._

The next thing Cecilia knew, the friendly Serpent was standing from the card table, collecting his winnings and headed her way with a smirk plastered on his face. She continued to dance as he made his way through the crowd, she eventually turned her back to him to dance with Holly once again and make herself seem like the hard to get type. Holly was dancing with her, wide eyed and smiling a big toothy grin when she noticed the boy headed their way. She'd never seen Cecilia flirt so much, well actually she'd never seen her flirt at all. With anyone. Ever.

 _She may have better game than I do._

Fangs and Sweet Pea had noticed the small blonde and her redheaded friend the second they had walked by the poker table, leaving Joaquin behind to play as they danced. It took Sweet Pea some time to find her again when she disappeared into the dancing crowd so he naturally went back to his game of poker, only daring to glance up every once in awhile to see if he could spot her again. He failed at this, big time and he felt like he was playing _Where's Waldo?_ so he went back to his game to concentrate on anything other than the blonde, pretending to not be too bothered by the fact until Fangs opened his big mouth and broke his concentration.

"So, explain to me where the hell you found those two Joaquin and what your plans with them were, cause surely you don't want them for yourself." The new initiate jokingly questioned his superior as he started laughing along with a few of the other Serpents. Sweet Pea flicked his eyes up to look at the older teenager sitting across from him and he took a drink of his beer while they all waited for Joaquin to answer.

"Cousin's in town with her friend, just showing them a good time before they go home." Responded the Serpent shortly and with as little details as possible while he organized his cards and placed his bet. He appeared calm and relaxed as to not give away the fact that he was lying but no one seemed to suspect anything and the game continued. Fangs however wasn't one to just let things go.

"Cousin?! Wooh, which one? Tell me DeSantos, are you a natural blonde or redhead?" Fangs questioned and begun laughing loudly, making those around him laugh just as obnoxiously and putting Sweet Pea on edge. Sure, he liked parties just as much as the next drunk teenager but his kind of parties were the one's at the Whyte Wyrm. Maybe there were one or two drunk Serpents around but there were people there that he didn't mind socializing with and actually gave a shit about that were way better drinking companions than the teenagers in his presence currently.

"The redhead, just met the blonde today." Joaquin answered again shortly and disinterested, he was sure to be cautious about what he said when it came to the two northsider's but this was Fangs he was talking too. The kid was an initiate and wouldn't do anything that would fuck up his chances of being a full-fledged Serpent. Little did he know, the almost Serpent was a lot more perceptive than what he was given credit for.

"So, she's fair game?" He asked his older friend as he pointed in the direction of Cecilia and Joaquin - who was tired with the conversation - glanced over his shoulder at her and ignored the question to continue with their game of cards. Fangs nodded thoughtfully before grinning brightly at everyone at the table and clapping Sweet Pea on the shoulder while asking them to wish him luck. No one watched the some times annoying initiate leave except Sweet Pea, hoping to see his friend get rejected as he needed a good laugh but became disappointed when the two grinned at each other and began dancing very close to one another.

"Haven't seen you around these parts before, wanna dance?" When Fangs approached the blonde with her back to him he lent down to bring his mouth close to her ear and whispered to her. Cecilia took in a calming breath as she turned her head to see him out of the corner of her eye and damn he was even better looking up close, she flashed a half smile at the taller boy all the while continuing to dance her little heart out.

"Not from around here." Cecilia stated simply while continually smirking and answering his question by bravely grabbing his hands and placing them on her hips. The contact made it so she could feel not only the warmth of his hands on her but also the nervousness she had been feeling all week and serving as a reminder to her that she had never been so close to a member of the opposite sex before. Taking yet another deep calming breath, Cecilia went back to dancing just as intensely as she had before with her new partner.

"Oh, that's right. Northside right?" The friendly Serpent - whose name she had yet to learn and wasn't sure she wanted to - said from behind her causing her to completely freeze on the spot. She hadn't been able to see the devious smirk on his face but she could hear it in his words and it had been enough to get her to turn to face him and stop dancing altogether. Cecilia's eyes were the size of the moon as she gazed upon the Serpent before her and it wasn't but a second later when she started to pull herself away from him, finding she couldn't as he had tightened his grip around her waist.

"Let go...Let go of me!" Cecilia tried to yell over the music for someone's attention but failed while she struggled to release herself as the once seemingly friendly Serpent looked down on her attempts smiling and still not letting her go.

 _What have I gotten myself into now?_

* * *

 **Review, Follow, Favourite**

 **Be a G and do it, also I apologize if this chapter seems shorter and kind of boring. It was originally gonna be the whole party in one chapter but it started to get really really long sooooo, I'm cutting it up a bit.**

 **-Sunny out**


End file.
